The Art of Being Extraordinary
by purplehershey
Summary: AU. Henry, age 23, decides to give the crowd what they want, what they really want. A story. So he tells them the only one he knows: the greatest love story of all time, and it just so happens, that this love story is his mothers'. Henry's on and off POV. WARNING: VERY ANGSTY MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN A CHARACTER DEATH
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright, I'm gonna try something a little different here. This will be a pretty slow burn fic with lots o' Swan Queen and a lovely narration by Henry Mills. Just to set you guys up, this is an AU, no curse obviously, no magic, taking the characters and deviating them from the show a decent amount.**

**The story begins with Henry at age 23 and will work as a series of flashbacks. Hope you enjoy!**

****For those who have already read this...yes! this has been posted before. Eventually, it disappeared off fan fiction and my computer after a misfortunate and freak computer crash from a bug/virus thing. ANYWAY. Thanks to some Swen they supplied me with a copy that they had saved so here it is! :)*****

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We should just outlaw folding chairs_. _Let's just make them completely illegal. I filtered through my knowledge from an American Politics course I took a couple years ago. I mean, how hard could it be?

They were uncomfortable in every way. They hurt your butt. They hurt your back. I'm pretty sure they were hurting my self-confidence too, because it was pathetic how exhausted I was from sitting up this straight.

When I found myself going through the process for my new folding chair bill to become a law, I forced my brain to stop its mindless whirling. This is what happened when I got nervous. I ended up coming up with all these plans to change the world, and almost always in completely irrelevant way.

Whenever I'd share my dumb nerve induced ideas in the past, Emma would just say, 'ambition is ambition' with her trademark shrug.

Emma. Stupid Emma. Can't a guy just go through his life without having inspirational quotes sprung upon him at every given moment? My Mom only encouraged her too.

If they were to walk up onto this stage with me right now, I'm pretty sure my Mom would say, "eighty percent of success is showing up", and then Emma would say something like "every strike brings you closer to a home run" which would be not at all encouraging, and basically have nothing to do with the situation.

When I'd call her out on it, she'd smile knowingly, like she did it on purpose, and tell me to 'break a leg, literally.' I'd probably punch her in the arm or something and she'd pretend it hurt even though my arms have the circumference of a small twig and my punch probably felt like a cotton ball had been thrown at her.

I twisted my hands around the paper that they held until it was rolled up like a log. I looked around the crowded auditorium, tightening the paper until the log transformed into a tiny stick. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty accurate with the arm circumference because when I held the paper up to my arm it looked pretty simi-

"…Henry Mills." My head shot up. That was my name. The man on the stage was calling my name.

For days, I had been waiting nervously for this moment. I had dressed in my most uncomfortable, yet dapper suit for this moment. I had sweated almost completely through my most uncomfortable, yet dapper suit for this moment. And here I was, completely blowing it, as I stared up at the man who looked down at me expectantly.

He nodded once, an encouragement to get up. I stared at him with wide eyes. He nodded again, now begging me to get my ass up. Before he got to the third nod, which was bound to up the anty with a threatening hand wave of some sort, I pushed up onto my shaky legs.

Did I mention my legs were also had the circumference of sticks? It was practically dangerous for me to even exist.

The third nod came along with the hand wave I had predicted. I forced my legs to move and sort of skip-jogged to the stage. I couldn't be sure from the man's uncomfortable face if he now regretted pulling out the third nod to get me to come up, or was just relieved his part was done as he shuffled across the wooden floor.

I made my way to the speaker stand and stood stiffly behind it. If I wasn't already sweating enough before, lights from all across the stage shone on me, seemingly trying to boil me alive. I knew enough about the state I was currently in to clear my throat before I started talking. I leaned my face so that my mouth hovered over the flexible speaker.

"Hello." My voice echoed throughout the huge room and I looked out to the crowd. They all looked like a bunch of dark blobs. I guess that lights were good for one thing. I didn't know if I would have been able to keep going if I could see the individual faces of the people staring at me. I leaned back into the microphone, my hand still clutching the rolled up paper at my side.

"When I was younger, my Mom used to say eighty percent of success is showing up." I backed up a little more, perfecting the distance I would have to be in order to prevent breaking the eardrum of some poor, unsuspecting crowd member.

None of the black blobs seemed to respond, they just coughed, and sneezed and shuffled around like black blobs do. My heart sunk at the thought that I was going to have to do this alone, that it was completely up to me and only me to pull this off.

I flattened out the paper that had been previously in my hand, slightly amused through the stress at how the paper refused to lay flat and instead just kept rolling up on the sides and rocking back and forth. Shaking me head slightly, I started again.

"When they asked me if I would speak up here in front of all of you, I was pretty shocked." I wrapped my hands around the edged of the stand, hoping that maybe if I held on tight enough I'd be able to stop myself if my legs started running by themselves to escape.

"I thought about everything I could say, everything I needed to say. And I just-" I stopped, releasing air I'd been holding in my chest. The whole room was so freaking stagnant I felt like I was struggling to breathe.

This is not at all how I wanted this to go. I released the wooden stand, half expecting there to be indents on the sides from my iron grip. But who was I kidding, arms like sticks, remember?

"Just uh, one minute." I craned by neck to speak properly into the microphone while I shrugged off my suit jacket and began to roll up the sleeves on my white button down shirt. I'd made sure the damn thing had been so perfectly ironed too. Well now that was out the window, along with my practiced speech.

I glanced around for something to throw my suit jacket onto, but the only thing near me was the stand. I folded in haphazardly and tossed it on the ground beside me. Clearing my throat once more I leaned my elbows on wooden surface.

"So, this didn't exactly go as I planned. I decided I'm going to say something a little different if that's okay with you guys."

My nerves began to settle as I denied this moment for what it actually was and pretended it was for something else. Story time. Yes, at twenty-three years old I was now going to tell a story to hundreds of currently humorless and stone faced patrons.

And I was going to do it while about ten highly watted, glaring stage lights threatened to sweat me out until I collapsed to the floor in dehydration. In other news, the tag on my shirt was a little itchy, but that was least of my worries.

"I'm not sure how much you really know about me. I know some of you out there, but most of you I've never met. Uh, I'm currently going to grad school for English. Writing specifically." I paused, sort of wishing that I could at least see the faces of the black blobs. At least then I could judge if they were even listening or not.

"And there was this one class where our professor would just walk up every day and write a prompt on the board. Then, we had twenty or so minutes to answer it. You know just to write as much as you could. Kids would like bring four pencils and switch them out as the one they were writing with got dull. They claimed a sharp pointed tip increased their writing speed or something.

Anyway, the point was these kids would go crazy because they never felt like they had enough time. They were writers, they had _too_ much to say for only twenty minutes. After class they'd argue with the professor, but he'd just say 'twenty minutes is more than enough to get the job done'.

I, on the other hand, would just sit there looking at my blank paper with the stupid prompt and the stupid professor wondering why I wanted to be a stupid writer when I had nothing to say."

The black blobs shuffled slightly when I looked out all the way to the back and even though I couldn't see them, somehow, I knew they were following along to what I was saying. I mean, they had no choice right?

"One day he went up the board and wrote his prompt as usual. Kids around me nervously tapped their pencils, waiting for their twenty minutes to begin. I just sat slouched down in my seat, knowing I'd yet again have nothing to write,"

I bent my spine and hunched over to show them just how unprofessional I could look if I wanted to, not like the first ten seconds of my speech hadn't already shown them that. My slouch impersonation must have really done the trick I think cause I heard some child in the front row laugh at me before their parents shushed them. I thanked that kid in my head.

"After he told us to begin I pulled my head up reluctantly, and read the prompt. For there was nothing more that would wake me up in the morning than some good old, freshly brewed failure. But this time, after my eyes finished scanning the board, my hand did something…weird." I scrunched my nose dramatically, feeling grateful for my extensive acting experience as Tree #2 in our high school's rendition of Peter Pan.

"The weird thing that my hand did was - oh god you sickos nothing like that!" My face transformed into one of exaggerated disgust as I pointed in joking accusation to a black blob that I could now decently make out in the front row.

He laughed, and I had to refrain myself from running off the stage and kissing him on his extremely bald head. I vowed right away that Mr. Blob in the front row, with the head as smooth as a baby's butt, was my new hero.

"So back to my hand. The weird thing it did while I sat in that classroom, was pick up the pencil," I paused for dramatic effect, who knew I was such an actor?

"I wrote two pages in that twenty minutes. Pathetic compared to some people whipping out six, but it was an all time record for me. Those two pages have guided me in every single writing assignment since, including the story I'm going to tell you today."

I took a deep breath, 'eighty percent of success is just showing up' I repeated in my head.

"Now I'm sure you're wondering what this wonderfully inspirational prompt was," I peered around into the blackness, before realizing that this was not a pop concert. The crowd was not going to scream 'WHAT' in unison, begging me to continue.

"On that board, the professor had written: Explain what defines something as being extraordinary." I stopped again, I guess my acting skills needed a little brushing up on cause apparently all I had were dramatic pauses.

"So I sat there for a little. You know half-heartedly thinking about it. I began listing all the things that I found extraordinary in my life so that maybe I'd find something they all had in common. And I realized hallway through the list that most of them, if not all of them included both my Mom, and Emma. And I thought to myself...no, that couldn't be, they were just so, ordinary.

But I wrote about them anyway for the remaining twenty minutes. At the end of those twenty minutes I realized I had found my direction as a writer and I guess, as a person." I laughed slightly as I remembered exactly who was in the crowd, "actually that professor is probably here right now. Thanks Dr. Palmer for making me miserable for twelve out of the thirteen weeks I went to your class."

Dispersed laughs sounded from around the darkness and it was enough to force one side of my lips to curl up into a smile.

"So now I've got my direction. The idea being that the most ordinary, is extraordinary. It kind of of sounds like a snack commercial now when I say it out loud, but just hear me out. I start thinking about my life, about Emma, my Mom, how extraordinarily ordinary they are and I decide to just write it all down. Because that's where my inspiration was coming from. Them.

So I thought, if I write on paper, maybe I could sleep with that paper under my pillow, or rub it on my head or something and I would _literally_ have physical inspiration rubbing off on me," I rubbed my own head with my curled up, now useless speech that sat on the stand in proof that I had thought this through.

More blobs laughed. I was beginning to love those blobs.

"So I wrote it all out, everything I remembered, along with a little help from something else I'll reveal later. And I actually just finished it, yesterday,"

I said slowly, finding it strange how something I'd been working on for so long was now finally done, "I figured I'd read it as a speech for some convention or awareness rally, or something like that. I never really figured I'd be revealing it here, but now that I think about it, there really is no other more perfect time."

I tapered off, nodding my head, convincing myself that it _was_ the right time. It was the only time, I realized. I had inadvertently written my first completed piece for this day.

"Now, this story I'm about to tell you is about the single greatest love story you will ever hear. I don't care who you are, straight, gay, man, woman, single, in a relationship," My fingers rapidly shot up one by one as I counted off, getting to five before cycling back.

"I don't care if you're a realist, an optimist, perfectionist, brunette, blonde, even a scheming red head. Yes, I know you redheads are plotting to take over the world. I don't even care about the excuses you guys have. This is the," I slapped my hands on the wooden stand, "_greatest," _slap, "love story" slap," you've ever heard."

I waited for five seconds, gazing out before one more slap on the stand, "and it's available to you for six payments of 19.99."

The crowd bubbled fully with laughter now. Took them long enough. I thought the lights would have succeeded in melting me into a puddle before I'd get this crowd on my side.

"Alright, so I lied, it's free. But the rest is true. This really is the greatest love story you've ever heard. And of course, if you haven't figured out what I'm all about yet, the reason it's so great is because of how extraordinary it is. You're thinking, yes, yes, it's extraordinary because it's ordinary, we get it Henry."

I took a deep breath in and exhaled it, stretching my fingers wide as they rested on the stand.

"And going into it, yeah I totally thought that too. I mean they were my family. And look at me," I waved my hands up and down my body, "ordinary." The crowd chuckled as I nodded my head, completely agreeing with them.

"But…that wasn't it. As I worked my way through this story for the first time I realized that my professor's prompt was a little bit irrelevant. Because sometimes some things just are. There was no reason, no explanation, no pattern you could analyze. If there ever needed to be an ultimate example of why things just are. Emma and my Mom would be it. They just were," I waved my hand in free space in front of me, slightly tilting my head, "extraordinary."

I leaned in close to the microphone. "So without further ado, here we go. Dim the lights back there please."

I turned and began to walk off the stage before laughing at the confused looks and furrowed brows that stared back at me. I quickly pivoted back around and returned to the stand.

"Sorry, nope there's no movie for you. All you got is me." The blobs didn't seem to mind though since some unorganized clapping began from various parts of the crowd.

"I'm just going to pretend for a little that all of you have no idea who they or I am, this way you can get the story through my eyes. Okay."

I walked from behind the stand and stood straight in the middle of the stage, challenging those lights to glare as much as they wanted on me.

"Ever since, I don't know, I was sixteen, I began to refer to the past in two separate section: B.E and A.E. You know my own version of B.C and A.D. It was my way of keeping track of memories and timelines. B.E meant before Emma and obviously A.E being after Emma. I've organized this story the exact same way so we have a nice timeline were gonna travel down." I crossed my arm across my body in a straight line in the air, creating my own invisible timeline in the air.

"We'll go a little out of order and start right where all the action happens. You know? Why not just jump in? And when is that you ask? Well, that would, of course be Zero." I punctuated my hand on the middle of the invisible timeline. "Which is in fact, the very moment my Mom met Emma."

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**Please read and review and do all that wonderful stuff that makes me smile like an idiot :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Just so everyone is clear on this, the parts of the "story" are told in third person, which is interrupted with sections of Henry speaking to the audience in first person. Didn't want anyone to get confused! Also, the story parts and the Henry parts will be separated by a divider. Okay, that's all. Enjoy!  
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Teachers lined up on the stage like prisoners ready for their death sentence, faces grim at what was about to occur.

The frizzy brown haired principal walked across the slightly raised stage in the stuffy auditorium. Her heels clicked excessively on the wooden floor. Halfway across the room she approached the microphone stand, clearing her throat quietly.

"We will now open this PTA meeting for questions and concerns." Just as the 's' in concerns hissed out of her mouth the room erupted in chaotic noise. Mothers pushed up from their seats, craning their necks.

Somehow they had it in their head that if _their_ face was seen, if _their_ needy eyes were captured then _their_ problems would be addressed first.

"Let's form an orderly line in front of the microphone as we do every meeting ladies." The principal was unfazed by the seemingly civilized women that had quickly transformed into jungle animals within seconds. She was well versed in easing the minds of the well-off mothers that wanted to get the most out of the school they were spending thousands of dollars on.

Brown School was the single most prestigious and acclaimed private school in New York City. If you had enough money, and wanted desperately for your child to make connections that they would use for the rest of their life Brown School was for you.

The principal that students and teacher alike had a tendency to call Frizzy Hair saw these mothers as checks and dollar bills. And boy, she could save the bank account in a second with a couple of empty promises and skillfully placed compliments.

"My daughter said that she asked a boy out, and he told her that she wasn't pretty enough. This rudeness and complete disregard for real beauty should not be condoned in this school." The woman who had for the most part avoided the pushing and shoving since she sat next to the microphone pursued her fuchsia covered lips.

"Of course, Mrs. Newhouse. These boys will be dutifully punished. If you would just meet me after this is over I'm sure we could figure out a perfect way to make your gorgeous daughter feel more comfortable." Pursued lips curled into smiling ones and Frizzy Hair began radiating with self-induced pride at patching yet another hole in her wallet.

The next woman took a large step up to the now vacant microphone.

Straight hair. Blonde. Big boobs. Sunglasses that always seemed to be perched on her head despite the fact we were not in California where the sun continuously shone.

And the next. Straight hair. Blonde. Smaller boobs.

After her. Straight hair. Blonde…-ish brown hair. Big boobs.

The women paraded through the line as Frizzy Hair told them each that their child was gifted, adorable, polite, brilliant…

"Yes Mrs. Tanner of course…she read a book on the Civil War…yes…without a doubt she was right in telling the teacher his facts were wrong…pure facts, yes that's what we teach…she read a book… of course." Frizzy Hair's consolation of the newest excuse with the newest perfect child and the newest set of big boobs was interrupted by her cellphone.

She frowned slightly while looking down at it before she excused herself from the waiting crowd. She hurried out the side door, throwing a "take over for me," to a poor unsuspecting teacher.

The teacher was slightly mousy looking, really short too, the exact kind of person that these women would walk all over. And not just walk over, but stomp and grind their heels into while they were at it. The poor victim of a teacher pushed her glasses up on her nose and slowly scurried to the microphone.

"Hi. I'm Mrs. Deck. I'll be answering your questions for now." Her tiny voice only added to the already mousy persona she had going on.

The mother that was currently next in line developed an evil gleam in her eye as she flipped her hair behind her shoulders. Mrs. Deck gulped audibly and here eyes widened significantly. She knew what was coming,

"It's very…convenient that you're up there Mrs. Deck. My daughter is in your class and she told me that you gave her a B on a paper she spent the whole night before working on. She deserves an A."

The woman was hissing into the microphone, her lips just grazing the metal that so many others have most likely touched before. She glared at Mrs. Deck, looking similar to the way that a cat looks before devouring an unsuspecting mouse. But if this woman was a cat, whoever walked into the doorway of the room was a mountain lion.

Immediately, the woman stood out from the other platinum blonde haired barbies that were scattered through the crowd. Her hair was so dark brown that it could have been rightly proclaimed as black. It was dutifully brushed back smoothly into a tight bun that sat exactly on the exact middle of the back of her head. Her hips swayed as she put one black stiletto in front of another purposefully.

You could see the mothers looking in the crowd looking her up and down, judging her against themselves. But as they continued to do so vey obviously, the woman's smirk only grew. A smirk that so delicately cradled a secret, it completely unsettled anyone who happened to be victim of it.

She finally reached the microphone, which had been rapidly vacated once she'd entered the room. Mrs. Deck looked like she was about to pee her pants. Everyone could attest that never in her entire life could she have looked more like a mouse than she did in that moment.

"I have a concern." The silence was broken with a lush voice that sliced through the air like a knife.

Mrs. Deck knew right away she was not going to last against this practically feral woman, but nodded meekly.

"My child is being bullied," is what came next.

Now after the list of demands that the mothers before her had made, it was natural for not only Mrs. Deck, but all of the teachers in the room to be more than a little skeptical.

"I-I'm sure we can talk to the kids that are bullying your-"

The deep brunette tucked a wispy hair behind her ear in exasperation, tugging at the lapels of her jacket.

"I didn't come here so you could promise to talk to kids you most likely won't actually talk to. I want something done."

"I-I-uh, um." Mrs. Deck's frozen form was pulled to the side and replaced by another teacher, one with blonde hair that tumbled down onto her chest. Her skin was tanned, but somehow you knew it was from being outside, and not in a tanning bed.

"What's your name…ma'am," The blonde teacher hesitated before adding the formality, biting the inside of her cheek as she forced it out.

"What's _your _name?" The woman countered, her hands resting slightly on her hips. Whether she knew the stance immediately upped her intimidation factor, or it was just a natural habit, the mothers unconsciously shuffled around.

They all seemed to be waiting for the woman to say more so they could decide if they were to crown her their new leader, or if she was to be ostracized.

"I'm Emma Swan." The blonde teacher managed to say in an even tone, only barely letting the annoyance that filled her eyes slip out her mouth.

"I'm Regina Mills. Henry's mother."

Emma's eyes widened a bit in recognition before softening into ones of concern.

"Henry's in my class." She responded as her posture relaxing significantly.

"So you know about the problem then?" Regina snapped, she wasn't satisfied by the brunette's sudden compassion toward her son, she came here for a reason. And Regina Mills was never one to get distracted from the task at hand.

"No, actually I don't. Henry always seemed to get along with everyone in the class." Emma had the urge to say, 'he's very bright', but knew after the show that Frizzy Hair had just put on, there was no way it could come across as genuine.

"Well of course you don't. The teachers never pay attention to what's really going on, do they? Especially in this school," Regina huffed as she shuffled her purse from one arm to the other. She stuck out one hip slightly, resting her body weight on one leg.

Emma cocked her head to one side, wondering just how badly those shoes hurt the woman's feet and if they were worth it. Regina caught Emma looking down at her feet and began to tap the shiny black stiletto on the ground. Emma gulped. Yep, those shoes were definitely worth it.

"What do you want me to do?" Emma asked, raising her hands in defeat.

"I want you to do your job," was the only response Emma got from the woman whose voice never raised, but increased its sharpness with each answer.

"I don't exactly know how to do that Ms. Mills when you won't tell me what you want me to do to fix this problem. I've offered my help and you've shot it down." The venom seemed to have seeped from Regina and into Emma because even she didn't even recognize the biting tone that escaped from her throat.

Behind Emma, Mrs. Deck stood with her back against the wall, her jaw dropped as her eyes flickered between the two women nervously. The sea of barbies looked on, in a surprisingly similar matter as Mrs. Deck. All people in the room seemed to have been reduced to spectators watching a vicious volley occur before them.

"Well, why don't we ask my son?" Regina twirled around on the tips of her heels and walked just to the doorframe before leaning out slowly and motioning with her hand in a 'come here' motion. She turned back around and returned to the microphone, head slightly bobbing in the most narcissistic manner. Somehow, Emma didn't think this woman could travel from point A to point B in any other way than controlled and intimidating.

Peeking into the doorframe ever so slightly was a small boy's head. He had a mop of brown mussed hair that fell down on his forehead just above his eyes. Regina turned around and tilted her head to the boy, encouraging him to come in.

* * *

I rubbed my hands through my hair, shuddering at the memory.

"Now was the single most embarrassing moment I had ever experienced in my ten years of life. I almost wished I could pee my pants while I walked into that room of women, knowing exactly which ones were the mothers of the bullies I had dealt with day after day. I remembered praying in my head that their heels were tall enough to slow them down enough when they inevitably started chasing after me."

The crowd laughed but my eyes only widened, "I'm not kidding! You have never seen a group of more protective mothers with longer nails than the women in that room." I waited for the noise in the crowd to slowly taper out before I continued, "So I walked in…"

* * *

"Henry, come over here." Regina's voice was instantly softer, and it caught the entire room my surprise. Emma's own mouth seemed to drop open at the rapid transformation that had just occurred before her own eyes.

"Hi, Miss Swan." The small boy mumbled while looking up from his still downturned head. His cheeks were dominated by a deep, red blush that had seemingly crawled up from his neck.

"Hi, Henry." Emma smiled down at the boy warmly, letting him know it was okay. When he saw it, he looked up a little more. At least he knew his teacher wouldn't hold this against him on Monday.

"Now Henry tell Miss Swan," Emma's name was still hissed out, despite Regina's much more relaxed demeanor, "why you came home at school with a black eye."

Emma's eyes opened wider still and she pressed her lips together in disbelief that this was going on, with kids in her classroom no less.

"Um, there are some…kids who call me things and make fun of me."

"Who are they Henry?" Regina leaned down to the little boy, but keeping her eyes trained on Emma the whole time.

"Uh." Henry gulped and Emma watched his eyes flicker from side to side as the barbie sea all waited expectantly.

"I don't think we need to talk about who it was specifically. Maybe we just need to figure out a way to stop all bullying. Right Henry?" Emma nodded slowly, waiting for Henry to catch up and nod along with her.

"Right." He squeaked out, still acutely aware of the crowded room he was standing in.

"So how do you want to do that? Got any ideas?" Emma said while ducking her head a little to make eye contact with the boy who was thinking so hard his nose scrunched up. The blush on his cheeks had settled from an apple red to a light dusting of pink.

"Um, I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders, exhaling sharply as they fall back to their resting position.

"I was thinking we could form a task force." Emma tried, cautiously at first until she saw Henry's head snap up.

"What kind of task force?"

"An anti-bullying one. We could make it cool and have other kids join too."

"Could we have badges?" The blush returned to the boy's cheeks in full force, but now his eyes were wide in hope.

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Emma smiled slyly at the boy across from her. Regina stood directly behind the boy, her hand tightening ever so slightly on his shoulder.

"Well I suppose that will be all." Her lips were pursued, but her eyes remained passive and no longer snake like. She and Henry walked out of the room, the boy dragging his feet slightly while his mother's hips swayed just as confidently as they had walking in.

Right as the brunette vanished out the door Frizzy Hair came back from her phone call. Emma rolled her eyes. _Naturally. _

The principal resumed her position at the microphone, shooing Emma behind her where the teachers still stood, their eyes glazing over with admiration for the fiery blonde that had just held her own. Emma let a miniature smirk pass over his lips in recognition before sneaking out the side door of the room.

She rushed after the brunette woman whose hand still rested on her son's shoulder as they walked down the hallway.

"That's it?" Emma shouted almost breathlessly, still a couple feet away. Regina twirled around quickly and Henry followed suit.

"What else are you looking for Miss Swan?"

"I'm not looking for anything, I just-I've heard about you."

"You've heard about me? And what have you heard?" Regina's voice slid out of her lips silkily.

"You once forced a PTA meeting to go until 11 pm because you wouldn't get your way."

"That was only because those imbeciles insisted on serving meat in every single dish for lunch. Sure, platinum Barbie, who's best friends with the principal could get them filet mignon for lunch once a month, but I couldn't get more options for my son to eat on a daily basis?"

"Wait, you're the one who pushed the vegetarian menu?" Emma's eyebrows reached up slightly onto her forehead.

"I am," Regina looked down at Henry who was kicking the tip of his shoe into the tiled floor. His brown hair fell down in front of his face.

"Wow. I had no idea. I actually wrote up the ordinance for the school to get that passed. I'm a vegetarian too." Emma's placed her hand on her chest, her previously tense face relaxing considerably.

"Yes, well maybe if the teachers focused on things that actually mattered, I wouldn't have to inconvenience you all at your meetings." Emma was surprised by Regina's snippy tone and took an unconscious step forward.

"Maybe if you weren't so demanding and prickly, people would listen." Emma snapped back, her teeth clamping down together tightly enough for the muscles in her jaw to flex visibly.

"Maybe that's exactly why they do listen." Regina barked with narrowed eyes, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. She and Emma glared into each others eyes intensely, each challenging the other.

* * *

"Now I'm going to interrupt the story here with a disclaimer," I stopped my casual pacing across the stage and turned straight on to the crowd. "This is not a porno. They do not push the other against the lockers and frantically start making out."

The crowd begins to chuckle and I see the Mr. Blob in the front nod his bald head knowingly, "I just- I saw some of the lesbian's, and even most of the straight men's, eyes glazing over and I had to put an end to it. I was standing next to them! A child for god's sake! You guys really are sickos."

The laughter increased in volume a notch or two. I smiled at the rowdy response, and resumed my pacing. "No, they definitely did not do that. In fact, after that I believe my Mom and I walked out of the school with Emma standing there." I paused, gathering my thoughts.

"We did end up forming the task force if anyone was wondering though. I got two of my wimpy friends that were also bullied to join and we made these little badges that Emma laminated. I mean, at first it was pretty lame and basically got us beat up even more, but then Emma made this announcement to the class of a new club forming and got these pretty huge jock type guys to join as well.

After them, a handful of kids joined every day. She was a really cool teacher, so we all pretty much did whatever we could to make her happy. We wanted her to like us, ya know?" The corner of my mouth twitched slightly at the memory of how ridiculous we looked in those badges.

"So now we had like 20 kids in the task force and we'd stomp down the hall looking as tough as skinny kids with paper badges clipped on their shirts could. After awhile, it actually became this huge thing. Eventually even the bullies wanted to join. I didn't want to let them in, but Emma told me that would kind of defeat the purpose. I knew she was right so I relented, but I made sure their badges were the sloppiest. I didn't even trace of the outline twice." Again, the black blobs showed their new allegiance to me and giggled in response.

"It made a difference, I'm telling you!" I waved my hands around, knowing exactly how neurotic I looked as a 23 year old arguing about paper badges. "You're probably wondering at this point about the state of my Mom and Emma's realtionship. Was my mother completely swooning over the blonde teacher who had saved me from my own demise? Uh, no. Nope." I pressed my lips tightly together and shook my head back and forth.

"I think she would have liked to thank her for making a difference in my life. Instead, she decided to stick to what she knew how to do best. Which was," I was now near the wooden stand and leaned my head into it so my mouth hovered over the flexible microphone, "how to be a complete stubborn pain in the ass."

I listened as my words bounced of the walls of the room, hearing a couple murmurs and laughs from people, who I'm sure knew my Mom and were bursting with agreeability.

"So while she pre-occupied doing that. I became good friends with Emma. I'd eat lunch in her room some times and we'd just talk about anything. Seems pretty weird, I know. Teacher and a student being friends, but she was the first one who encouraged me to pursue my dream to be a writer. At ten years old I already had someone I knew would root for me, someone who was on my side as I struggled to do the inconceivable. And I think that's pretty awesome."

A hand was raised in the front row. At least I thought she was raising her hand, it was hard to tell in the blackness that contrasted from the glaring brightness still shining upon my face.

"Can we dim these lights up here? Is that possible?" I looked around from side to side, wondering if I was showing off my crazy and talking to the lights, or if there was someone who was registering what I was saying.

The stage lights dimmed slightly and my eyes began to adjust to the now more visible crowd.

"Wow, that's better." I could clearly see now that the woman in the front row was in fact, raising her hand.

"Uh, I wasn't exactly going to take questions, but I'm kinda just winging this so, what's your question?"

The woman stood from her seat and I got a better look at her. My jaw dropped to the floor when I realized it was none other than Frizzy Hair herself. She looked a little older obviously, and her hair was definitely much less frizzy. But it was most definitely her.

"You forgot one part in that whole interaction." She said loudly and clearly, a good-natured smile on her face. The years had done her well, I decided.

"I did?"

"Yes, I was there. I'm not sure if you recognize me."

I gulped and squeaked out in a prepubescent sounding voice, "I do. Hi Principal Butler." The crowd thought my embarrassment was just hilarious.

"Hello Henry. That day you were just talking about, the PTA meeting, you made it seem like Regina treated Emma like any other teacher."

My forehead furrowed in confusion, "But she did. Didn't she?"

"Oh no," Principal Butler shook her head slightly, "I was watching the whole thing from just outside the door. Regina Mills was undoubtedly and irrevocably attracted to Emma Swan from the very minute she laid eyes on her."

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**So, how ya feeling about this theme? Setting? The whole POV thing?**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N: Just a reminder, Henry POV and story flashbacks are separated by a divider. Hope you like it!**

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"I now bring you all two years after the nearly fatal PTA incident," my hand slid down my imaginary timeline to the right.

"2 A.E. That's right, my mother and Emma indifferently spent their lives apart for two whole years before meeting again. You're probably thinking geez, Henry that doesn't sound like epic love. I know, I know! But my Mom had the whole stubborn pain in the ass thing going for her still, remember?"

* * *

"Emma, do you think this sounds awkward?" Henry stood in front of Emma's deep mahogany colored desk and pushing his paper across the surface. She glanced up, a scolding look in her eyes.

"Henry, you have to call me Miss Swan." She continued to look disapproving, but the corner of her lips twitched into a smirk. Henry returned her smirk with an overdramatic wink, but schooled his face quickly after.

Satisfied enough by the boy's response, she pulled the paper toward her. He was in the midst of writing his own fictional novel, and despite the fact he was now in seventh grade, two years beyond Emma's fifth grade classroom, he still came during any free blocks or available lunchtime he had to work on his writing with her.

Her eyes drifted down to his paper where Henry had circled a singular sentence in red pen.

_Love may not be infinite, but the ability to love is._

She slowly raised her head up to meet Henry's questioning brown eyes.

"You wrote this?"

"Uh huh."

"How do you know about love?"

"I don't, really. I'm waiting."

"Waiting to have it?"

"I'd be lucky enough to see it." Emma shook her head at the ridiculously mature seventh grader before her and smiled brightly, pushing the paper back towards him.

"It's a strong sentence. Keep up the good work, Henry. If you want, I can edit your next chapter over the weekend."

"Okay. Thanks Mi-" Henry's face paled considerably in the short time since he started the sentence. Emma, who resumed grading, looked up questionably at the boy who had stopped midsentence. Just her eyes flickered up, Henry's pale face turned a ghost white and he slumped over onto her desk.

"Henry?" Emma stood up, her chair screeching back as it scraped against the floor. Henry's body succumbed to gravity and limply fell off the desk and onto the floor.

"Henry!" Within seconds Emma was around her desk and kneeling on the floor where the little boy lie. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow. Emma scooped up his unmoving form into her arms swiftly and sprinted out into the hall.

"Call 911! Someone call 911!" She screamed, anxiety filling every ounce of her chest. The moisture in her eyes gathered from an unknown place as questions and worst-case scenarios filtered through her head.

Around her, people were either scrambling to call an ambulance, or looking on slightly confused. Emma continued stared down at him, her eyes never flicking up, never looking anywhere else. She bit her lip to keep her tears from spilling over and falling down her face.

"Alright I'm going to have to stop first to let you all know something: I'm still here. I am alive." I patted my body to show everyone how real and existent I was, "just letting you know, cause I'm pretty sure I heard someone crying back there as if that was the end of me. But alas, because I am the one telling you this story, it was obviously not, the end of me that is."

* * *

I mentally patted myself on the back for my great performance so far. I mean how many storytellers can convince an audience of their own death?

"Now, some of you know, some of you don't, both my Mother and I have hemochromatosis. I'm not a doctor so the details might be a little sketchy, but I can explain it to you the way they did to me. Basically my body is just completely confused. See, anytime I eat something it absorbs way too much iron, way more than it needs. It's kind of like eating too many gummy vitamins. You guys know what I'm talking about?"

Crowd members young and old all nodded with gummy vitamin yearning in their eyes. "Those gummy vitamins are so damn good you just can't stop eating them. I had a friend that ate them like candy. One time he told me he ate 46 in one day. He predictably had to go to the doctor since he felt really sick and the doctor pretty much smacked him across the face for being so stupid. He was an idiot.

Well my body is like that with iron. There are no gummy vitamins involved though, just for the record. But when I eat certain foods, or don't get blood removed, all this iron inside of me builds up in my not so trusty liver, which then kicks my butt and makes me feel really sick for being so stupid. It's pretty manageable. I was raised as a vegetarian because my mom has the disease too, but once I was diagnosed it became more of a necessity.

Other than that you just have to monitor your iron levels and such. It was all fine and dandy in terms of chronic diseases, until that one day. So now we're back to the story. Now I want you to take a moment and think about the situation I have got myself into."

I looked around, waiting til I saw some nods before I continued, "My liver just failed, in Emma's classroom, and now she was most definitely going to go to the hospital with me, where my mom would be. " I waggled my eyebrows up and down exaggeratedly until the crowd started to laugh. "I mean do I have good timing or what? I almost felt nostalgic when my failed liver was removed from my body because it had been so dedicated to the pursuit of love."

More laughs erupted. I waited for them to die down before I began again, "Now! Enough with the explanation, I will continue, but rest easy crowd of darkness, I do, in fact, survive this whole ordeal."

* * *

"Is he going to be okay?" Emma pushed off the wall of the waiting room where she saw the doctor that had ushered Henry into a room when they got there. Her face was frantic and her heart still beat as wildly as it did just an hour before when Henry was in her arms. The doctor looked up from his clipboard and placed a soft hand on Emma's shoulder.

"His liver is failing. He needs a transplant quickly. Right now we're just trying to find a donor."

"What about his mother?" Emma wrung her hands together to stop them from trembling.

This boy had come into her classroom two years ago and they had developed such a strong relationship that she barely ever went a day during the week without seeing him. She had unknowingly and undeniably grown very attached to him.

"His mother also has hemochromatosis. Her liver isn't suitable for a transplant. " Emma had become aware while being rushed from the ambulance to the hospital that while surprising, it was not completely unfathomable that this was happening to Henry knowing his previous disease.

"Well are there-are there any other donors lined up?"

The doctor returned to his clipboard and scanned down it.

"Not right now, but we may be able to find one in the next couple hours," His comforting hand rubbed up and down her arm, "Don't worry. We'll find one."

The doctor released his hand from Emma's forearm and turned to walk back through the double doors when he heard Emma's voice from behind him.

"I'll do it."

The doctor stopped in his place, pausing before turning around. His eyebrows were raised and slightly skeptical.

"You understand that you'd have to be evaluated first. Then, you'd go into surgery, which has its own risks. Even then, your liver may not be the right match."

"I'll do it." Emma replied evenly as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ears.

"Okay. Let's get you in the back then." He waited until Emma caught up to where he was standing before pushing open the door that they disappeared behind.

Countless prodding doctors, one liver transplant, a couple scares, and several days later, Henry lay on his hospital bed staring at IV tubes sticking out of his hand. His mother was still asleep on the couch next to the bed, unaware that he was awake.

He fiddled with the tubes and looked up at the TV, wishing desperately that he could change it from the current talk show that was playing to some cartoons or something.

His thoughts were interrupted by the creak of the door opening. He assumed it was another nurse to check on him and casually tilted his head to the side on his bed. Instead, Emma slipped through the barely open door, shutting it quietly with a click. Her blonde hair fell down onto her shoulders limply, her eyes lined with dark circles.

Henry's face lit up immediately as she slowly walked over to his bed. She grabbed a nearby stool and sat down on it slightly breathless, wincing a bit.

"Emma! What are you doing here!" Henry wished he could rip out the tubes from his hand and hug the blonde woman, but he was practically tethered to the bed.

"Oh, you know I just decided to come to the hospital for fun. Thought it'd be cool to dress like you too." She motioned down to her matching hospital gown that Henry had neglected to notice.

"Wait, what's wrong with you?" As quickly as his face had lit up, it dropped at the realization that Emma was obviously in the hospital being treated.

"I wanna know how _you_ are, kid. How do you feel?" She reached her hand out to his and squeezed in a little, a grin spreading on her face.

"I'm fine, my liver is working better than it ever. At least that's what they told me. Emma why are you here?"

Emma sighed, she was a fool to think the little boy in front of her would ever refrain his questioning. She knew him better than that.

"I saw that you had a liver transplant and I thought, damn. I can't let that kid have all the fun." Henry giggled when Emma swore.

It was only a couple of seconds though, before his eyes opened wide at the realization.

"You're my liver donor?" The words came out of his mouth weak and unsure. As if even his throat didn't believe the information. Emma pressed her lips together; a soft smile that remembered how limp and helpless Henry had felt in her arms ghosting over her face.

"You donated your liver to me?" Henry's face had transformed from disbelief to absolute incredulity.

"Yeah."

"But you need your liver, Emma!" Emma chuckled at the boy's concern that she was now going to keel over without a liver.

"They only took part of it. The best parts. For you." She winked, hoping her easy nature would calm the boy down from having a heart attack and needing her heart as well.

"You donated your liver to me." He replied evenly and plainly, for his own benefit. He needed to believe what was right in front of his eyes, but somehow he couldn't.

He hadn't got a chance to ask when they found him a liver whose it had been. Once they had gotten it, they had him knocked out on drugs and rushed into surgery within a matter of minutes. He knew his mother wasn't aware either since she told him after the surgery it was from an anonymous donor. He'd assumed that meant someone's liver just became available for anyone that needed it, not that it was specifically for him.

"I did. I even have the scar to prove it," Emma's grin grew larger, "we're practically twins."

"That's. Awesome." The shock had passed from Henry's face, now he was just giddy with the information that he had his own personal hero's liver inside of him.

Ever since he'd met Emma, he knew he wanted to be exactly like her. Almost everyone loved her, she was really cool, and she was an amazing writer. The fact that he a literal piece of her inside of him made him feel like he was on top of the world, even if it was kind of sick.

"I wanna see it!"

"Kid! I'm wearing a hospital gown, wait until I get some real clothes on."

Henry laughed loudly at Emma's protests. Loudly enough that Regina stirred awake on the couch. She blinked her eyes twice, smiling briefly as she saw her son awake and talking to someone, that smile disappearing instantly when she realized who he was talking to. She kicked her legs to the ground, ran her fingers through her hair before standing up.

"Miss Swan! What do you think you're doing?" Her voice was loud, insistent, and so abrupt both Emma and Henry jumped when they heard it.

"I was just coming to say hi." Emma answered as her hand remained on Henry's.

"Visitation is for family only right now. You would know that if you asked a doctor to come in here, but somehow I imagine you snuck in." Regina's voice was as condescending and sharp as it could possibly be from someone who had just woken up.

"I just wanted to make sure he was okay…" Emma trailed off, confused and frustrated that this woman always seemed to approach her this way, no matter the circumstance.

"Mom-" Henry interrupted in an effort to save his mother from the embarrassment and shame he knew was undeniably coming her way.

"No, Henry. She can't decide she wants to break the rules whenever she wants."

"Alright, whatever. I'll leave." Emma held up her hands defensively before placing them back on the bed to push herself up.

A slight whimper slipped out from between her lips as she her weight shifted onto her feet. Now standing, Regina got a better look at Emma, just as Henry had. After seeing her limp hair, tired eyes, and hospital gown, her brain began whirled with the information.

Before exiting out the door Emma shouted over her shoulder to Henry, "I'll show you the scar soon. We can compare whose is bigger." The door clicked shut a second later and Regina's stomach dropped.

"Henry…" Her voice squeaked out uncharacteristically as she looked at her son who had a 'I tried to tell you' look written all over his face. She stood there for a minute, trying to gather her thoughts into a coherent sentence.

"Henry," she began again, "Why was Miss Swan in a hospital gown?" Her voice trembled slightly and she bit her lip, a nervous habit only Henry knew about.

"You know why."

"She donated her liver to you, didn't she? She was the anonymous donor?" Regina already knew the statement to be true, but it didn't stop every organ in her body from clenching up with guilt when Henry nodded in the affirmative.

"Yeah."

"Oh my god," Regina grabbed her purse off the couch and rushed to the doorway, stopping just before she exited through it. "Henry, I'll be right-"

"Mom, go." The boy smiled from his bed, encouraging his mother with a head tilt.

Craning her neck out into the hall, Regina looked frantically both ways, only seeing nurses and doctors populating the floor. She ran up the nearest nurse.

"Is Emma Swan on this floor?"

The nurse glanced at her clipboard and pulled up a page to peer at another one underneath.

"Yes, room 206." The nurse had barely finished when Regina stalked down the hall to where her room was. She didn't knock, or falter, but yanked open the door violently. Upon looking in, she only saw an unfamiliar nurse standing in the room.

"Where's Emma?" She demanded to the young woman who was fiddling with some machines next to the bed.

"Oh, she's in the bathroom changing. She'll be out in a sec-" The nurse was cut short by Emma who wandered casually out of the bathroom in a pair of grey sweatpants and a faded red t-shirt.

"Hey," the blonde said casually to Regina as if she'd expected her to be there the whole time.

"Emma, I had no idea. I'm sorry." Regina rushed out quickly. After looking at Emma's clothes she suddenly became acutely aware of her appearance.

She and Henry spent a decent amount of time at the hospital between both of their diseases, so she always had an overnight bag packed for each of them with comfy clothes they could wear. That day, her bag had included black yoga pants she was embarrassed to own and a burgundy v-neck sweater that didn't match the pants at all.

When it came to either her or her son's health, something she normally took pride in, fashion, went straight out the window. And now she was suffering the consequences.

"I know," Emma shrugged, not exactly forgiving the woman, but not berating her as Regina had expected. "Hey Mallory. Is it okay if I go down the café for a little? I'm starving and if you give me jell-o again I will most likely have the urge throw it at the wall." Emma's face was joking and playful as she retied the strings on her sweatpants. Mallory laughed freely and looked up from her previously hunched over position.

"Only if you bring me back a bag of chips. And if you get caught I am not your nurse." Emma nodded and started to walk past Regina and towards the door.

"I'm serious Emma, I'm not your nurse!" Mallory's face grinned widely, her cheeks a light shade of pink.

"Yeah, yeah I got it." Emma pulled open the door waited against the wall, the doorknob still in her hand. She looked toward Regina who stared back at her, completely confused. "You coming?"

Without saying another word, Regina walked uneasily through the door that Emma held open, clutching her purse tighter in her hand. They walked side by side down the hallway until they got to the elevator. Once safely inside, Regina pushed her back against the wall. She'd never felt so unsure of where she stood with another person in her life, or at least cared so much about it.

"I'm sorry," She tried again, looking over to the blonde who leaned her weight onto a handrail that protruded from the wall.

"I know," Emma replied as the door to the elevator lurched open. Regina stepped through the opening and held the doors pen as Emma walked slowly through them. She was obviously in pain and moved laboriously.

"You keep saying that." Regina walked next to Emma down the bleach white hallway and into the café, which was almost completely empty.

"So do you," Emma refused to make eye contact as she placed a sandwich, juice, and two bags of chips on her tray. Regina followed suit, placing her own food items on a green tray.

Emma slid down to the end of the line, a smirk on her face as she heard Regina slam various containers on her own tray in frustration that she was not getting anywhere with her apology.

"Together, or separate?"

Before Regina could answer the cashier's question, Emma pulled out a twenty and plopped it on the register.

"Together. You can keep the change." She grabbed her tray and made her way slowly to an empty table. Regina, more confused than ever, followed her.

Once they both sat at the table, Emma began to eat her sandwich. Regina took the opportunity to finally get a good look at the blonde. She mapped the details of her face meticulously with her eyes.

"I can feel you staring at me." Emma mumbled with a mouth full of sandwhich. She looked up as she said it, catching Regina in the act. Regina looked down at her food quickly, her eyes darting about. She didn't know what had gotten into her. She hadn't acted this timid since she was a kid.

"Why did you do it?" Regina mumbled, her head still turned down.

Emma look intensely at the brunette in front of her, the sides of her lips curling up when Regina finally relented and looked up at her.

"There was this one day I remember. About a year ago," Regina's forehead wrinkled slightly in distress that Emma was going to ignore her question, "I'm answering your question. I promise. So that day at school there was this kid in my class who was crying in the back at the end of the day. He just sat there with his head down on his desk, crying. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong and said he just wanted to be alone.

Henry usually came into my classroom at the end of the day to give me a new writing piece he wanted me to edit and when he did, he saw this kid. He immediately went back and sat next to him. I'm not really sure what he said, but after a couple minutes they both came up to my desk. Henry said that he and the kid wanted math tutoring after school.

Now, Henry was in 6th grade at this point and the kid was in my class, so 5th grade. Henry said he needed a refresher from last year since he was struggling this year in math. And you know the kid, he's brilliant at math. Absolutely hates it, but brilliant nonetheless." Regina nodded knowingly. She always had to force him to stop writing and sit down and do his math homework, but once he did he'd get it done it record time, all correct too.

"So you understand why I didn't believe that for a second, but I agreed without questions. I tutored that kid and Henry three times a week for three months until the end of the school year. After school ended, I finally asked Henry why he came to tutoring with me all that time. He told me that the other kid thought he was the only one who struggled and that he was embarrassed to get help by himself. Henry sat through tutoring on math that he already knew for three months because the other kid was embarrassed." Emma sat back in her seat resolutely, "You don't find a kid like that just anywhere."

Regina sat back in her chair as well, unconsciously smiling at how thoughtful her son had always been.

"He looks up to you, you know." Regina offered in a voice softer than Emma had every heard from her.

"I don't know about that…" Emma chuckled as she played with her tray, sliding it back and forth.

"He does." Regina answered quickly, staring into Emma's eyes until they looked back up at her. "I owe you a thank you."

"For the surgery?"

"That, but also the anti-bullying task force."

"You remember that?"

Regina gave Emma a look as she tilted her chin downwards and raised both eyebrows.

"How could I not remember that? Despite what you may think about me, it's not every day that I have a stand off with a worthy adversary at a PTA meeting."

"From what I hear…."

"Those are not battles, Miss Swan. Those are massacres." Regina smiled evilly, a playful glint in her eye. Emma chuckled knowingly, but didn't respond for awhile as she spun the bag of chips around on the table mindlessly.

"You're different from that day." She finally said as continued to look down at the chips. Regina laughed lightly at Emma's observation and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Yes, I do seem to act differently when I'm not being challenged by a sea of barbies and Frizzy Hair, don't I?"

"You call her Frizzy Hair, too?" Emma rested her chin on her knee, her her smile widening.

"Everyone calls her Frizzy Hair, dear." Emma chuckled and nodded before looking into Regina's deep brown eyes.

"You look different too, though."

That caught Regina's attention and she raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

"You're just…" Emma searched for the word that could adequately describe how transformed Regina Mills seemed to her in that moment, "softer."

"And what did I look like before?" Regina asked self-consciously.

Emma responded with a grin. She realized she was doing a lot of that while talking to Regina.

"Like a dominatrix, business edition." A snort burst out of Regina before she could stop it and she slapped her hand to her mouth, slightly embarrassed. After a couple moments of recovery, she responded, "A dominatrix, huh?"

"Yeah. I mean don't get me wrong. It's sexy and all, but mostly just scary as hell."

"My own son's person role model thinks I'm both scary...and sexy? in a business suit. I suppose I'll have to note that." Regina's cheeks covered with a plentiful dusting of pink.

Emma grabbed her tray of garbage, swung her leg down, and stood up decently quick having regained some energy from lunch.

"I suppose you will."

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**Reviews keep the fingers typing :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to all that have reviewed and followed and all of that good stuff.**

**A reviewer asked about songs to listen to while reading this, I mostly listen to pretty mellow music while writing. I know it's not everyones taste, but I wrote this to Life in Letters by Lucy Schwartz. So check that out if you're interested :)**

**Enjoy!**

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"With Emma's charm, my adorable cuteness, and my Mother's tact we convinced the hospital to move us into a room with two beds. That day, Emma and I officially became roommates. It actually worked out for the nurses too, since most of them were in charge of monitoring both of our vitals. Now they only had to go to one room instead of two." I rubbed my hands together and stretched my neck back and forth, wishing I had brought some water up onto the stage. Yet, I hadn't planned to launch into an epic story of love.

"We were required to stay in the hospital for three more days once we got our shared room for monitoring and such. It sounds stupid, but I found my best friend in that room. I don't care if she was a teacher, or like three times my age she was and is the best friend I've ever had." I smiled to myself and looked down at my hands, remembering all the shananigans we pulled in those days. I chuckled quietly and looked up into the waiting crowd.

"We," A laugh escaped from my throat, "there was this nurse that was really mean and old. She'd come in and stomp around, grumbling how we were interrupting her day. Well, this one time she came in and tried to tell my Mom she couldn't stay in the room anymore, that she had to wait in the waiting room since they needed to special testing. Knowing my mom, you can probably guess this didn't go over very well, she, as predicted, pretty much threw a fit. Turned out though that yelling and intimidation wasn't very effective on this nurse. She'd only screamed louder in response to my Mother's arguments and threatened to withhold all visitation. In the end, my Mom lost one of the first battles in her life and stormed out of the room for the couple hours that the nurse claimed the tests were going to take. As you could probably guess, there were no special tests that afternoon.

Emma and I knew we had to defend my mother's honor and restore peace to the world, so we hatched a plan." I shook my head and chuckled some more, looking down at my feet and running my hands through my brown hair, "You guys are going to hate us," I laughed. I couldn't stop laughing.

"We kind of rigged Emma's heart rate monitor, so that I could make it flatline by pulling out a wire connected to a string from my bed. Once we had everything set up I pressed the red button to call the awful nurse in. She came stomping and grumbling as usual. When she entered Emma cried out dramatically, pretending to be in pain. Now, we also detached the other alert systems so we wouldn't completely disrupt the rest of the floor. Anyway, so Emma starts crying out and flopping around, reaching her hand out to the air like she was drowning. I mean this was the worst acting I'd ever seen. The nurse came rushing over to the bed and she Emma whispers as weakly as she could, 'I…..I…need…. Regina.'"

I reenacted the dramatic performance and the crowd began to laugh at how ridiculous it was, "the nurse is like screaming at Emma now saying 'what's wrong?' What are you doing?' All accusing and skeptical, but Emma just kept wailing and flopping around. 'Regina…I…need Regina.' Emma threw me a wink and I pulled the wire. The heart rate machine flat lined just as she collapsed into her bed. That nurse's face dropped in record time, she kept slamming on the alert button, but no one was answering since we disconnected so I just yelled 'Get my Mom! She needs my Mom!' I've never seen that horrible nurse move so fast. She sprinted into the waiting room and practically dragged my absolutely confused mother into the room. Right when my Mom entered, I reconnected the heart rate monitor and Emma jerked alive.

'Oh thank god. Come here. Come here!' She screamed to my Mom whose eyebrows were like way up on her forehead. My Mom was pushed and shoved over to the bed by the nurse. Emma grabbed her hand and held it to the sky. 'Oh thank god! New life!' She screamed, like I said she was the quite the actress. My mom was trying to pull her hand away, she was so completely confused, but Emma just held on tighter. I started laughing and cheering, but in my celebration the nurse saw my string that was attached to the wire and tugged it from my hand. She looked and it, slowly putting together what we had just done, and stomped out of the room swearing. We were discharged the next day."

The crowd chuckled and I could see Mr. Blob with the bald head keeled over laughing in the front row. "Yeah so, that kinda just shows you how seamlessly Emma slipped into my family. Even after we were discharged she always seemed to be coming around for something. First, it was because my Mom wanted to make sure she was taking all her medicines and refraining from all the activities she wasn't supposed to do, but soon after it turned into 'just because'."

I turned back to face the crowd, creating my imaginary timeline in front of me. "I will now bring you all to two years and six months A.E. Okay, I know, I know things are moving slowly right now, don't groan. Yeah I hear you over there," I pointed out into the crowd where I had no idea if there was actual groaning occurring, but I was a top notch performer at this point and believed my acting license gave me the right to make up fictional groaners.

"For six months Emma was a part of my family. Let me make this clear for my mother's sake, they were not dating. She would want me to make that very, very clear. They were. not. dating. See, my Mom did everything very meticulously in her life, including her love life. She made a plan. She followed the plan. She executed the task. So naturally, that's what she tried to do with Emma. And it worked, for awhile at least.

* * *

"Mom, let's go! We have to make sure we have enough time to eat before it rains." Henry paced at the front door, cooler in hand while he waited for his mother to appear from her room. "Mom! Emma's waiting!" Henry pressed his face against the glass that lined either side of the front door.

Within seconds Regina appeared in the hallway, wearing a simple blue dress. Her hair had most definitely been done and her makeup, while light, was perfect.

"I'm ready. Do I look okay?" Regina asked over her shoulder, not giving Henry time to even look at her before rushing into the kitchen to grab one last ice pack. Henry's head thudded against the glass pane in frustration and he let out a groan.

"Just tell her you like her already," He drew out the 'y' in already as he pulled back from the glass, catching the disapproving look from his mother.

"I do not like her Henry. I just like to look nice." She slipped on her shoes and ushered him out the door.

"Yeah, okay."

Emma was sitting in her car, tapping on the steering wheel while she waited for the two. Regina got into the passengers seat while Henry slid into the middle of the backseat.

"Hey Emma."

"How's the Mills family today?" Emma asked easily and with a light smile as she looked behind her to back out of the driveway.

Henry shrugged, "I'm good." Emma shifted the gear from reverse to drive, but before she pressed down on the gas pedal she glanced at Regina expectantly.

"I'm fine." Regina answered with a slight shrug of her own. The car began to move forward.

"Just fine? Huh. Henry, I don't think just fine is good enough, do you?" Emma glanced in her rearview mirror.

Henry shook his head back at forth, his shaggy hair shaking with it, "nope!"

"We'll have to work on changing that." Emma turned the steering wheel as she glanced over at Regina with a crooked smile and a wink. Regina rolled her eyes and looked out the window, her own grin spreading secretly across her face.

Once they arrived at the park, they heaved everything out of the car. Three chairs, two blankets, two coolers. Stumbling to a seemingly perfect spot as determined by Henry, they plopped everything down and spread out.

Within seconds, Henry convinced Emma to play with a Frisbee with him. They tossed the disk back and forth, Henry being completely awful and Emma being even worse. Half the time they played, they were retrieving the frisbee from a bush, picking it up off the ground, or apologizing to some stranger they had just hit in the face.

Regina thought the entire ordeal was hilarious and was completely content to sit on the blanket and watch Emma's face turn beet red when an old lady decided to yell at her for throwing the thing too close to her face.

After the old lady incident, Emma warned Henry to control his throws, but being as awful as he was he, the next throw went way too high for Emma to catch it. The blonde raced after it, jumping and leaping in the air, colliding into a woman that was jogging on the path. Both Emma and the woman went toppling to the ground.

Henry looked at his Mom and they both started to crack up at Emma's clumsiness. Henry was laughing so hard he collapsed onto the grass, and Regina had tears running from her eyes as she sat hunched over.

Emma began apologizing profusely and crawled off the woman she was practically laying on. Once standing, the woman brushed off her clothes and laughed lightly at Emma who was still spewing out every apology she could think of. The woman had light brown hair, sun bleached streaks of dark blonde creeping through. She put an arm on Emma's shoulder and told her it was okay.

Henry continued to lay on the ground, but had flipped over to his stomach, cradling his chin in his hands as he waited for Emma's conversation to end, and for her to resume playing.

Regina remained on the blanket, finally finished wiping the tears away from her eyes with a tissue. She looked up moments later and saw Emma still talking to the woman. She watched the light brunette smile loudly and put her hand on Emma's arm, encouraging her to do something as she flipped her hair. Emma laughed with her and flexed her muscle after much protest.

Regina found herself staring at the two intensely, a strange anger building up in her chest. Henry looked from Emma to his Mom, back to Emma, and then one last time to his Mom. His mother's lips were turned downward and her eyes narrowed. He smirked to himself knowingly and shifted around to get ready for the show.

When the light brunette put her hand again on Emma's arm again, this time sliding it down slowly while they continued to talk, Regina stood up and stalked over to them.

"Emma, dear. You kind of left Henry hanging." Regina placed a hand on the small of Emma's back as she smiled at her forcefully. Emma looked confused at Regina's hand placement but turned back to see Henry laying on the grass still.

"Oh sorry. I was just trying to apologize."

"I'm sure you've done enough _apologizing_. Would you come back now?" Regina glared at the jogger in front of her who pursued her lips, knowing exactly what Regina was doing. The light brunette saw the confused look on Emma's face though and called Regina's bluff.

"Maybe if I got your number Emma, I could show you those workouts I was telling you about."

"I don't think that's necessary." Regina snapped, sounding quite similar to when Emma had first met her. Emma realized how strange it was that she was on the other side now.

"Who are _you_? Why don't you let her answer?"

Emma sighed, suddenly and completely aware of what was going on here.

"I'm her wife." Regina deadpanned, staring the lighter brunette down until she wavered. The other woman's eyes flickered between Emma and Regina before taking a step back.

"Okay. Well, have a good day." She jogged off, not daring to look behind her. Regina watched the woman disappear in satisfaction, feeling Emma's eyes burning into her. Regina whirled around to face the blonde.

"So you're my wife?" Emma stood and crossed her arms, her eyebrows practically reaching her hairline. Regina scoffed and flipped her hair before starting to walk back to where Henry was laying.

"I just said that so she would go away. You were obviously getting unwanted attention, and I saved you. You're welcome."

"Who said it was unwanted?"

Regina stopped suddenly and stood completely still for a second before turning back to Emma who also stood in place.

"She was a woman."

"I like women."

"Oh." Regina's felt her heart freeze in her chest and she couldn't stop her eyes from flickering down to Emma's lips. She snapped herself out of it, knowing it was silly that just because Emma liked women didn't mean she liked her.

"But…she wasn't my type anyway." Emma answered casually as she began walking again, passing Regina.

Regina spun around and quickly to caught up to Emma, "Well then, what's your type?" She asked as casually as she could, but her voice was breathless and sounding much too intrigued to pull it off.

Emma smirked, and chuckled to herself a little before looking at the woman walking next to her.

"Brunette" She answered confidently, her eyes trained on Regina.

"She was brunette."

"Brown eyes." Emma continued to list off, knowing Regina would interject again.

"She had brown eyes."

"Completely blind to what's in front of her." Emma countered, watching Regina very carefully now.

"She did just kind of half run into you." Regina continued to rationalize that the woman had been Emma's type, despite the fact she wanted nothing less. She knew though, that if Emma wasn't talking about the jogger, it would open the chance, the possibility, that she was talking about her.

"Confusing"

"I thought it was confusing why she kept touching you," Regina grumbled under her breath. Emma's smile only widened.

"Complex"

"She-"

"Stubborn"

"I mean maybe she-"

"Stunning"

"I don't know if I'd go-" Pink blush covered Regina's cheeks as she spit out anything and everything she could think of to prolong the inevitable woman Emma was describing from being revealed.

"Smart as hell"

"I-"

"And…she must. Absolutely must, have a son." Emma was now next to Henry who continued to lay on the ground.

"Bu-" Regina's heart beat rapidly in her chest as she was reduced to unintelligible sounds. Emma stopped walking suddenly and whipped around, stabilizing Regina by her arms when she knocked into her chest.

"A son named Henry." Emma finished looking at Regina intensely with her own emerald eyes. They stared at each other for a long time before Henry leapt up from the ground.

"What are you guys doing?"

Regina was removed from the trance, where the focal point was Emma's eyes and took a deep breath, walking past Emma quickly.

"We're just walking, honey. You ready to go soon?"

Emma reluctantly turned back around and followed after the brunette as she stuffed her hands in her pants pockets. Throwing her head back, she sighed deeply.

The car ride home was pretty quiet. Not uncomfortably so, but Regina stared out the window completely immersed in her thoughts while Henry had fallen asleep after a minute in the car. As soon as they pulled into the driveway and stopped, Henry snapped his eyes open and automatically began to get out. Emma climbed out as well to help unload the cooler from the trunk.

"Bye Emma" Henry called behind him as he shuffled into the house.

"Bye Henry. Go get some sleep bud." She laughed as Henry threw a wave over his shoulder.

Emma slid the cooler against the wall of the garage and strolled out to where Regina stood next to the porch, her hands fidgeting uncharacteristically. Emma leaned against the siding of the house and watched the brunette with her lips pressed together and her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Regina snapped as she forced her hands to stop moving. She looked at Emma with a wrinkle in her forehead, completely distressed.

"Regina…" Emma pushed off the wall of the house slightly and took a step forward.

"No."

"No?" Emma froze and tilted her head to the side in question.

Henry, after realizing he had forgotten his backpack in the car, wandered towards the front door, stopping at the screen when he saw Emma and his mother talking.

"Emma." Regina huffed, running her hands threw her hair. She bit her lip nervously.

"What?" Emma could barely keep up with the various stages of meltdown that Regina was currently going through. Regina continued to bite her lip furiously, obviously debating something.

"Will you…you know." Regina tilted her head towards Emma, hoping she understood.

"Will I what?"

Regina groaned and put her face in her hands. After a moment she dropped her hands to her sides and rushed out in one quick breath, "will you go on a date with me?"

* * *

"I'm sorry to interrupt again, but I need you all to appreciate what's going on here as much as I did. My mother was constantly receiving attention from men almost her entire life. People would come up to her in and not limited to, grocery stores, clothing stores, post offices," as I listed them off I counted on my fingers, "bakeries, outdoor markets, restaurants, the dry cleaners, our neighborhood, my school, her work.

Pretty much any place my mom went, she got hit on. I mean she was beautiful so I suppose it wasn't surprising, but still, some of the come-ons she got were ridiculous. There was this one guy came up to her while we were grocery shopping and went, 'You don't need a bodyguard. You need a booty guard. I'm here to apply for the job'" I stopped and gave the crowd a look of incredulity.

"I mean _come on. _That's just the worst. I'm pretty sure she threatened every single sexual harassment law in the book and then threw a tomato at his head." The crowd burst into loud laughter and I heard a woman scream 'you go, girl'.

I chuckled and continued on, "Basically this is what it boils down to: in my presence, my mother has been hit on seventy-four times.

She has been officially asked on forty-one dates.

She has gone on ten dates.

Four of these first dates turned into second-dates.

She has only made it one third-date.

And this was only with men.

My point is, that after all of this, I have never, ever, in my life, seen my mother ask someone else on a date. And there I was, looking through the screen door, watching her do it, to a woman no less. I mean she was freaking out about it, and possibly having an existential crisis while doing it, but she was doing it.

I can't even begin to comprehend the statistical chance based on the numbers I've just told you, that this would happen. And if that doesn't amaze you in itself. I don't know what will."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hopefully these chapters make you laugh :)**

* * *

"Two years, six months, and five days A.E." my hand moved a minute distance to the right on my invisible timeline. I know this is only five days ahead, but I promise, this day is important. This is the morning after the first date."

I took a deep breath and cleared my hoarse throat, "Unfortunately, I have limited information about the date itself. I was obviously not on it with them, and it's not really normal for a mother to explain to her twelve-year-old son what occurred on her romantic night out in excruciating detail. What I can tell you, is that it was apparently the date of a lifetime. How do I know this you ask? Well…"

I chuckled, excited to see how the woman who was anxiously waiting on the edge of her seat in the front row would react, "I know, because the next morning I woke up to find none other than Emma Swan, brushing her teeth in the bathroom." People started whispering to each other excitedly in the crowd, "I know," I opened my eyes wide and smiled even wider, "So. Scandalous. Two years, six months and five days A.E is sounding a little more interesting now, isn't it?"

Henry shuffled to the bathroom in a zombie-like state that usually lasted from the time of waking up until one to two hours past that. When he opened the bathroom door mechanically, the sight of blonde mussed hair standing in front of the mirror shocked him awake in a matter of milliseconds. So much for his one to two hours.

"Emma, what-what are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Emma stared like a deer caught in headlights as her hand gripped the toothbrush tightly, foam decorating her mouth.

"Em-" Regina whirled out of her bedroom in a silk robe, halting when she saw Henry and Emma staring at each other. They both looked up to meet her eyes, and she froze as well.

For some time they all stood completely still and looked at each other, unsure of what to do or say. Finally, Henry's brain kicked in and he snapped out of his stupor.

"Oh. You guys had your date last night. I forgot." He shook his head back and forth to clear the haze in his head and continued into the bathroom, grabbing his own toothbrush like nothing had happened.

"You don't want to talk about this Henry?" Regina slowly took a couple steps towards the bathroom where Emma was currently winning the award for best statue.

"Talk about what?" Henry asked with his mouth full of foam from the toothpaste, he hip bumped Emma's statuesque form to spit in the sink.

* * *

I walked over to the wooden stand in an effort to use to microphone. My throat was really receiving a workout from talking so long. "Before this day, I thought my mother was completely straight. I'd never really had any reason to think otherwise. Emma on the other hand, you know, she could go either way." The crowd chuckled as I put out two hands and waved them around in a wishy-washy manner.

"So when I saw Emma in our bathroom that morning and put together the obvious…details of the night before, I was…" I tilted the flexible microphone towards my mouth and deadpanned, "not at all surprised."

I laughed to myself a bit as I walked towards the front of the stage, "I mean, they had spent the last six months in foreplay." I paused, trying to figure how I could explain in its entirety why this day was so important.

"Contrary to what it seems with Emma, my Mom's favorite game was hard to get. She practically invented hard to get. Not that she did it to make the other people more interested, she was just really adamant that there was no right person out there to 'get her'. And she kept her distance by being super picky.

Every time before she went on a date I'd ask her 'What's the low down?' It was just a thing we did. She'd tell me what the guy's personality was, where she met him, what he looked like. She'd always say stuff like 'he's too short, he's too tall, seems too polite, probably a pig,' you know her first impressions. She'd finished her list of complaints that she had with a half-hearted 'but we'll see how it goes'.

I mean, she could come up with a whole slew of flaws with every single suitor she'd ever had, before the date no less. Not even to mention after. After her dates, she always seemed to be seconds away from losing faith in the entire concept of love." I paused, really reliving that morning in my head. Really remembering.

"But somehow, Emma beat the system. She found away around my Mom's defenses without meaning to. Because while my Mom was impossibly picky when it came to love interests, she was just as impossibly caring and protective of her friends and family. Whether none of the other guys had thought to try it, or maybe they were never given the chance, but their best bet for survival would have been to go the friend route. My mom probably would have caught on pretty quickly that they were only using friendship as a jumping point though, and then it would have been," I slapped my hands on the nearby wooden stand, "game over.

Hopefully you're beginning to understand how strange and unique this situation with Emma was. She had somehow became friends with my mother... while simultaneously and unknowingly falling for her… while also getting my mother to fall for her," my eyebrows furrowed at how confusing it all was, "I mean I was there for most of it, and I still don't understand how it happened.

All I know is that the reason I was not surprised when I saw Emma there in the bathroom that morning was because of what happened the night before. See, right before my Mom went on her date that night she deviated from the script. I remember casually asking her the usual, 'What's the low down?' I could see my Mom bring up Emma's file inside her head, filtering through the many details of the woman, no doubt the characteristics of Emma flashing behind her eyes. Blonde. Tall. Lean. Teacher. Clumsy. Goofy. Stubborn. Selfless.

I sat, and waited for her answer, but she just kept staring off into space. She seemed to completely forget I had even asked her a question. Instead. she just smiled to herself while she played with the placemat on the table. I mean my mother was playing with a placemat like a child. And smiling to herself. And daydreaming!" I raised my voice, remembering exactly how insane it had been to see Regina Mills acting like a lovesick teenager.

"It was unheard of. So I went, 'Mom?' She snapped out of it and goes 'I don't know Henry. Her hair is blonde?' She said it as a question and just kept looking down, playing with the damn placemat. So I go, 'So? I think it's pretty.' Playing along now because it was almost pathetic how obvious my mother was showing her inner crushing teenage self.

And then that picky, hard to get, no faith in love, stubborn, pain in the ass woman said, 'Yeah...it is really pretty, isn't it?' all wistfully and shit. I mean. Come. On. How could I have possibly been surprised when Emma showed up the next morning?"

* * *

"I don't know I thought maybe you would want to discuss why Emma's here. I know you may be uncomfortable with it…"

Henry spit one last time and rinsed his mouth of toothpaste before dragging his worried mother into her bedroom. He shut the door, leaving a Emma, frantic in the hallway. He turned to the brunette.

"Mom. What's the low down?"

Regina looked at Henry, her face twisting into confusion.

"Don't you-"

"Mom," Henry paused, "What's the lowdown?" he asked seriously.

Regina sighed and leaned her back against the wall, cursing her son for being wise beyond his years.

"She's perfect," she breathed out after a moment of silence. Henry let a small smirk play over his face and pulled his mother into a hug.

"Then, I don't think we have anything to talk about." He replied resolutely before he pulled back from the embrace and re-opened the door. Emma, who was obviously pacing in the hallway stopped in her tracks and looked up at them.

Henry chuckled with his head down and walked by Emma's frozen form, making his way to the kitchen.

"What happened?" Emma's face was terrified, her heart was reacing, her hands slightly shaking. She knew if Henry didn't approve, this was all over.

Regina didn't answer right away. Instead, she continued to stare at Emma, trying to pinpoint what it was exactly about this woman that made her feel the way she did.

"Because if Henry's not okay with it, I can leave. You really don't have to-" Regina shut the blonde woman up in her new favorite way, with a kiss. Emma wrapped her arms around the brunette's back and lifted her slightly.

Placing her back on her feet, Emma women pulled back with a smile.

"I'm guessing that meant-" Emma began again, but Regina just placed another kiss on her lips.

Catching onto the game, Emma said, "so Henry-" not even attempting to finish the sentence, a mischievous smile covering her face. Regina tilted her head to the side and pursued her lips to keep her smile from spreading out of control.

"You just want a kiss."

"Yup." Emma leaned over and took exactly what she wanted from Regina quickly before walking down the stairs to the kitchen, a huge grin on her face.

The trio all sat at the breakfast table in a shockingly domesticated manner considering the circumstances.

"Hey Henry, how many grapes do you think you could fit in your mouth right now?" Emma asked as she forked a piece of her omelet. Henry looked up at her with wide eyes before grabbing the bowl of fruit salad and placing it in front of him.

"Emma!" Regina swallowed her own bite of omelet and scolded the blonde woman with a look. Emma chuckled and placed her hand on Regina's knee under the table, giving it a slight squeeze.

It was enough to distract the brunette for the time being since shockwaves seemed to radiate from that one touch. Henry used the brief period of distraction to begin forcing grape upon grape in his mouth. When Regina finally came to, she was faced with her son who looked more like a chipmunk than a boy.

"7…8…" Emma watched in fascination as Henry continued to wedge another grape in his cheek. Regina rolled her eyes and said, "just don't choke," but didn't make any effort to stop the boy.

Instead she took Emma's hand from her knee and flipped it over, drawing mindless patterns on her palm. After a couple seconds, Emma clasped her hand together tightly at once, catching Regina's hand in her own. The brunette woman jumped slightly at the sudden movement and shot a fake glare at Emma who was laughing lightly.

"11…12…" Emma continued to count. She leaned over, her mouth next to Regina's ear, but her eyes still focused on Henry.

"You think if we kiss, he'll be so shocked he'll spit all the grapes out?"

Regina could feel Emma's smile on the shell of her ear. It was a strange sensation, to feel a smile on your skin.

"Do you really want him to spit all the grapes out though?" Regina whispered, looking at Henry just as Emma was while she said it.

"I haven't figured that part out yet, all I know is that I _am_ sure I want to kiss you." Emma whispered back before saying loudly, "14…15…" Henry began to strategize by redistributing the grapes around his mouth with his finger.

"You're going to clean them up though if they end up on the floor…which they will." Regina tilted her head slightly to see Emma, whose mouth was still hovering just over her ear.

"Hmm..." Emma hummed in contemplation, "worth it." She said quickly before tilting Regina's head with her hand and kissing her square on the mouth.

Regina pulled back a second later to hear the grapes launching out of Henry's mouth and rolling across both the table and the floor. The women looked over at the boy who was now glaring at the disgusting pile of grapes sitting on his plate.

"Guys!" He whined. When he saw their grins his face narrowed, "you did that on purpose."

"Maybe." Emma shrugged before she stood up from her seat and grabbed her and Regina's plate. She strolled into the kitchen with their plates to go wash them, leaving Henry gazing wistfully at the spit covered grape mash.

Regina looked at her son while shaking her head. His face seemed legitimately upset looking at the grape mound.

"Henry…it was just grapes." She said while chuckling lightly.

He looked up from his plate and rolled his eyes, "Mom, that was my worst record yet." Regina raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth slightly.

"You've done this before?"

"Like million times. One time I got up to twenty-four. But those were pretty small grapes."

"Have all of the times you've done this been with Emma?" Regina waited expectantly, not at all surprised when Henry nodded guiltily.

"And does this grape counting thing...mean something to you two?"

"We've been doing it for two years straight now. So yeah it means something."

"You did it at school?"

"Uh..no?"

Regina threw Henry a skeptical look and contemplated something for a second before speaking again,"Want to see Emma completely freak out? It's quite entertaining."

Henry looked shocked for a moment that his mom would ever use the phrase 'freak out' but became confused soon after as he realized the implications of her statement.

"You've seen Emma freak out before?"

"Oh, yes."

Henry pressed his lips together, thinking about how his mothers must have spent more time with just the two of them in the past than they'd let on. In the end he shrugged, "Sure, why not."

"Here's what you're going to do."

Emma walked in from the kitchen about ten minutes later when all the dishes were done. The exact moment her blonde hair was visible from the table, Henry hunched over his plate and coughed out a baseball sized wad of grapes. Emma furrowed her eyebrows while a small smile simultaneously spread over Henry's face.

"Mom, what'd I get?" Henry asked excitedly, bouncing up and down in his seat. Regina, who was leaning back in her seat casually looked her forefinger's cuticle as she answered with disinterest, "that was twenty-six, Henry."

Emma's jaw dropped to the floor and her eyes bugged out, "No way…"

"Mom! Mom! That's my new record!"

Both Henry and Regina looked sideways at Emma whose hands were now grasping the table.

"No...there's no way. You did not just do the grape challenge without me and get your record." She looked skeptically at Henry, with a hint of betrayal, but he just nodded and motioned to the grape pile.

"Ask my Mom. She wouldn't lie. Twenty-six!"

Regina nodded casually, "Twenty-six."

Emma was too busy 'freaking out' as predicted, to realize that smiles had crept up on Mills family's faces.

"What did you even look like? Did you look like a chipmunk? Or like someone who just got stung by a bee forty times? I don't know. I don't even know because I missed it," Emma collapsed into her chair and rested her chin in her hands, "stupid dishes. Here I was trying to be a decent morning-after first date and I miss that," she grumbled almost unintelligibly.

Regina leaned into where Emma's head rested and whispered, "you are an excellent morning-after first date," before kissing her on the cheek. Henry couldn't keep it in anymore. He began to laugh uncontrollably. Even Regina couldn't keep the smile off her face.

Emma looked between both of them and narrowed her eyes.

"You guys lied," she concluded in a pouty voice.

"It was Mom's idea!" Henry immediately pointed to his mother who just gasped and put a hand over her chest. Emma turned her eyes to Regina and tried as hard as she could to look mad, but her smile was too insistent.

"You, are a troublemaker. That's what I've decided. You pretend to be all scary and serious, but you're really just scheming secretly this whole time."

Regina laughed and nodded her head, "Oh, is that what you think?"

"Yes, Regina Mills. That is exactly what I think." Emma finished with a smirk while crossing her arms over her chest.

* * *

"If anyone was wondering, I did actually get to twenty-six grapes. I was fifteen and it was at my birthday party. I had just gotten my braces off and thought my mouth as big as a basketball so yeah, I went for it. You know, just in case that was what really got you in the story."

I thought for a moment about everything I would have changed going into this if only I had known, "I wished I had planned on telling this story from the beginning. I could have made it interactive. That would've been so cool. I could have thrown some grapes at you guys, brought a heart rate monitor on stage, I could have even played the CD that I gave to my Mom and Emma for Christmas when I was fourteen that I dubbed 'The Soundtrack of our Life.'"

I laughed embarrassedly and rubbed the back of my neck, "Maybe not though, that's pretty embarrassing now that I think about it. I was quite a sentimental kid. Rightly so though. Why wouldn't I be? I had the coolest family in the entire world."

* * *

**I wish I knew 23 year old Henry. I wish we were friends. Is that sad? I wish I was friends with a fictional character that I half made up? Haha, oh well.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you guys for all the nice comments you have left me. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. This one's only going to get better and better I promise!**

* * *

"At three years A.E. my mother became the symbol of all things gay," the crowd exploded with laughter, not at all expecting that to come out of my mouth. I laughed along with them; knowing it was even more ridiculous than they already thought, "I know, my mother of all people. Trust me, she wasn't asking for it. But it was just kind of, thrust upon her out of absolute nowhere. So yes, I'll repeat this just so you know what we're getting into, at three years A.E. I witnessed the strangest amount of random coincidences come together in apparent fate to elect my mother, Regina Mills, Captain America of Gays."

"Regina, We have to go!" Emma called into the house, one foot already out the door.

"I don't understand why we have to go to this meeting." Regina hopped along the floor as she struggled to get her heel on. Emma sighed and threw her head back.

"Because we're going to dinner after and I have to go to this PTA thing, which means by association you do too. Don't you want to support your beautiful and charming girlfriend while she takes on hoardes of barbies with one arm tied behind her back?" Emma batted her eyes and put on her most Henry-like pout. He always seemed to get away with stuff with it on, why not her?

"I have no problem supporting my ever humble girlfriend, it's the hoardes of barbies you speak of that make the situation less than favorable."

"It'll only be an hour. Maybe even shorter since you won't be there lining up at that microphone with your own complaint," Emma countered with a mischievous gleam.

Regina finally got her heel on and smacked Emma's arm playfully, "you're going to regret-"

Emma interrupted Regina's threat with a chaste kiss, "I love you."

Regina rolled her eyes, but grabbed her purse anyway. She was a sucker when it came to the blonde.

Henry was already sitting in the backseat of the car when the two women finally managed to leave the house and slide in with him.

"Do you guys know this is like your anniversary?" Henry asked the women in the front seat while typing away on his phone.

Regina looked at Emma in the passengers seat, "He's right. What was that…three years ago?" Emma rolled her eyes to the top of her head in thought, mentally counting.

"Yep, three years ago. Wow. Never would have thought you'd be in this situation then did you?"

Regina laughed, but continued to drive without answering.

"Did you?" Emma asked again, this time turning her body in her seat to face the brunette.

"She did," Henry answered for his mother in the back, still texting on his phone.

"Wait, what?" Emma looked between Henry and Regina in the darkness of the car.

Regina sighed, "I did not expect this to happen, Henry. But I might have had a certain attra-"

"She asked about you like five times." Henry interrupted his mother just as he clicked his phone screen off.

"I-"

"Mom, we could totally do this all night. You asked about her five times. I remember. But whenever I said you should go meet with her you decided against it."

Emma's mouth was now in a jaw-dropped, yet still smiling position of shock and absolute glee. She said back in her seat contently and folded her arms, "you totally loved me from the minute you set eyes on me."

Regina half scoffed, half laughed. It seemed both women's bodies couldn't really decide if they wanted to pretend not to believe how immediate their attraction had been for each other, or if they just wanted to revel in it, "on the contrary, dear. That would have been you."

"That's true also. Emma, I know you made up those waivers for the task force so you could impress my mom."

"Kid! Not helping!" Emma's cheeks turned red as she sat forward and tightened her crossed arms. A minute later, Emma spoke again, "So you knew all along this was going to happen Henry?"

Henry shrugged and looked out the window, "Nah, I didn't really pay enough attention to realize it."

Emma's mouth fell open and she twisted around to face Henry, "you could have saved us two years! Two whole years!"

Regina smiled and reached her hand across to interlace it with Emma's. "We gotta work on your observation skills…" Emma mumbled to herself while looking out the window. Regina glanced in the rearview mirror at Henry who was shaking his head similarly to her own and smiling.

When they got to the PTA meeting the trio climbed out of the car and walked into the school together. Just before the entrance Emma kissed Regina quickly and mussed Henry's hair before peeling off and entering through the side doors to stand on the stage with the other teachers.

* * *

I stopped and stared out at the audience of people. The black blobs had disappeared long ago when the lights had dimmed.

"Did you catch that?" they all stared back at me, waiting. "You didn't right? You didn't even realize anything happened, right?" I laughed at what was about to come, "Oh, but it did. You see, when Emma left to go in the other door she kissed my Mom. Seems simple enough. It was like a one second kiss, pretty typical of people dating or married to do when they say goodbye. But at the exact time of that kiss.

At the freakish exact time of that kiss Mrs. Newhouse…do you remember Mrs. Newhouse? Got like three boys at my school punished because they said no to her daughter when she asked them out? Yeah that's her, well Mrs. Newhouse just so happen to be walking past the doorway when she saw Emma kiss my Mom. Naturally, she raced back to her seat where all of her gossiping high-class friends were, and told them how she had seen Regina Mills kissing Emma Swan."

I stopped when I saw a random stranger coming up to the side of the stage with a bottle of water, whispered like a million than you's to him, and downed half the bottle before continuing. "Now this could go one of two ways. One: the mothers you know as the barbies ostracize my mother for her sexual orientation." I put out my hands, palms up, "But even if that did happen, you and I both know my mother would have been able to obliterate them with a word or two.

Two, they immediately place her on a throne, dub her queen of the lesbians, and pretend they were friends the whole time so they can ask weird questions like 'how does it feel to kiss a girl?' and 'do you think I'm hot, like would you be attracted to me?'"

I stop since the apparently my Barbie impression is pretty good and the crowd has started laughing again, "They went for option two. Now, for some of you, this might seem like a strange reaction to the situation at hand, but this was New York City. Gay was just becoming trendy, and most of the mothers in that room were rich socialites that dealt with gays all the time, men mostly though.

Lesbians were still kind of off the grid to these loaded, overly perfumed women and I'm sure the majority of them had stereotypes of butch, can-smashing, arm wrestling lesbians floating around in their heads. I don't know." I waved my hand around, unable to get into the minds of these women. Their stereotypes and judgments confused me so much I could never keep up, "but then here was my Mom who was just like them. I mean, she was an art curator, pretty well known in the art societies, had a lot of money, dressed in nice clothes, and wait for it…wore lipstick. The fact that someone so similar to them was kissing women confidently and happily seemed to intrigue them to no end."

* * *

Henry and Regina glanced around in the semi-dark auditorium for two empty seats. They eventually found two in the middle of a row and made the awkward 'excuse me, excuse me' shuffle until they sat down. While they waited for the meeting to begin they watched Emma stroll across the stage, various teachers throwing her a 'hello' or a wave. A unconscious smile spread across Regina's lips at the blonde woman the whole school seemed to be infatuated with.

"How long have you been dating?" A mother in the seat behind Regina whispered between Regina and Henry's head. Regina jumped in her seat and whirled around.

"What?"

"How long have you and Emma Swan been dating? Unless you're married, but I didn't see a ring on your finger." The woman smiled pleasantly and waited for Regina to respond, but her tongue seemed to have forgotten how to move. It was not very often Regina Mills was caught off guard, but the way this woman was smiling at her so forcefully was really unsettling.

"No, we're not married. About six months." Regina choked out, looking at Henry who just looked back at her and shrugged.

"That's wonderful." The woman squeezed Regina's shoulder and sat back in her seat. Regina turned back forward, her forehead completely wrinkled in confusion.

She could deal with an insult thrown her way, if anyone dared to threaten her she'd be on them within seconds with her own quip, but this woman wasn't insulting her. Instead, she just very voracious in being happy for her and Emma.

"She looks beautiful up there, doesn't she" the woman next to Regina asked as she leaned toward the brunette.

Regina jumped to toward Henry, startled by the second voice, "Who?"

"Emma Swan."

Regina's eyes narrowed, unsure of what exactly was going on here. The woman saw Regina's eyes and tried again.

"I just mean that you're lucky. Because she looks so beautiful."

Regina stared at the woman who just continued to smile through the darkness. She slowly nodded in agreement, at a complete loss of what else to do.

A different woman behind Regina tapped on her shoulder, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you could help me with something."

Regina tilted her head to the side, staying completely silent, her jaw dropped slightly. She'd never been as cold as people thought she was, but this crowd was most definitely one she didn't not expect to approach her easily and carelessly.

"Uh-"

"See, my husband is cheating on me. I know he is. We're probably going to get a divorce and I was thinking about transitioning to women. They just seem so much softer. Do you know where I could meet someone?"

Henry hunched over and covered his mouth to muffle the laughing that shook his body.

Regina gaped for a good couple seconds. Just gaped.

The woman waited.

Regina gaped.

The woman waited.

Regina gaped.

It was like a standoff that would only end with Regina waving a white flag above her head.

"I'm not sure. Emma's the first woman I've been with," Regina forced out. She had no idea where that came from, why didn't she snap at this woman for being so intrusive. She concluded it was because she wanted to prove the previous impression they had of her was wrong. She wanted to prove she wasn't just some cold, demanding bitch.

"Hm, and what is it that you do?"

"I'm an art curator."

"Oh yes, Regina Mills. Now I remember it. Meet me after the meeting if you have some time." The woman leaned back in her seat and whipped out her phone, typing frantically.

Just then Frizzy Hair appeared on the stage and began the meeting. The usual mothers went up with their normal, overdramatic complaints and Frizzy Hair eased their minds and their souls as she did. It wasn't until twenty minutes in that a woman with pin straight brownish-blonde hair went up to the microphone to speak.

"I think we should start some LGBTQ club or awareness program to encourage all kids and people in Brown School to embrace their sexuality."

Frizzy Hair nodded and looked a little surprised at the legitimate request, "That sounds like a great idea. I'm sure we can get that started right away. All we'll really need to do is find a teacher to supervise it and we'll-"

"Emma Swan can do it." The woman interrupted, smiling largely where Emma was sitting. Emma's jaw dropped completely and her eyes widened into golfballs at having just been outed on stage in front of what she thought, was a crowd of unknowing mothers.

"I'll have to ask…" Frizzy Hair's eyes darted between the woman and Emma, "her if she wants to."

"Emma. It's your duty as a strong, independent, lesbian woman to do this. We need to increase awareness and provide support for those of all sexual orientations. I know your partner, Regina Mills, will provide her complete support. As will the all of us. This is a war we need to fight. Love for all!" The crowd erupted in cheering and clapping from the boisterous mothers who were all standing now.

Regina and Henry remained some of the only people still sitting.

Regina was frozen, absolutely baffled at the revolution that was occurring at her and Emma's behalf. Henry was struggling to breathe he was laughing so hard. Tears streamed down his eyes and his abs ached for relief, but he still couldn't stop.

Once the crowd began chanting, "Emma! Emma! Emma!" Emma walked up to the microphone that Frizzy Hair was standing at and said ever so elegantly, "uh, okay."

Apparently that was all that was on the agenda for the night because at Emma's confirmation, the mothers shuffled out of the auditorium each trying to talk over the next about fundraisers and awareness rallies they could organize. Within seconds Emma hopped off the stage and practically ran to where Henry and Regina were still sitting.

"What the hell was that?" She asked, desperately confused.

Regina looked at her and shrugged, unable to give Emma any explanation to what had just occurred. Henry stood up, patted Emma on the back, wiping his tears away and chuckling as he walked out of the auditorium without a word.

"I don't- I have no idea," Regina finally forced out. Emma sat down in the seat next to her and stared ahead just as the brunette was. After awhile the auditorium was empty besides the two, but both women could hear a crowd of mothers gathering in the hall, waiting for them.

"We-" Emma stopped, "We're gong to get mauled out there."

"I know."

"Is this how boy bands feel?" Emma smiled as she looked over to Regina who unwillingly smiled back. Emma put her hands on the seats in front of her and heaved herself out of the seat, holding out a hand for Regina.

"Come on. We have dinner reservations, and we'll have to leave eventually." Regina took a deep breath and took Emma's hand. They walked to the closed doors of the now empty auditorium and opened them together, their hands still interlaced.

* * *

"They did end up getting mauled. The hoard of barbies attacked them like they were a new Prada purse. Now, in order to understand what happened next, you really have to know the type of women that brought their kids to my school. Like I said, most of them were socialites with husbands that brought them to high places, but another good chunk of them, which neither Emma or my Mom were really aware before this whole ordeal, of were high up executives and professionals.

We found out that day that in that PTA meeting there was a TV producer, a senior editor at a publishing company, an anchorwoman, the CEO of a marketing company, a newspaper journalist, a movie director, a movie producer, and the editor of a very popular women's magazine. Every single one of these women, including many others, shoved their business cards into my mom and Emma's faces. I'm pretty sure the journalist actually got quotes for an article that was published a week later during that brief time in the hallway.

While they were definitely interested in the relationship between the two of them, they were mostly infatuated with my mother's combination of high-class business and lesbian-ness. So Emma lovingly and happily shoved Regina to the front of the pack of women and ran off to hang with me at the end of the hall."

I took another gulp of water, briefly interrupting my story for a second before continuing, "I have no idea what was going through my Mom's head. She seemed to be really overwhelmed, but I also knew that she had often been judged mercilessly her entire life. Her job required her to be blunt and sometimes aloof and this usually carried over to her personal life and…let's just say for once she was getting a shot to show her true self, and she took it."

After about a half hour of questions, interviews, and words of advice the women finally scattered, leaving Regina, Emma, and Henry alone in the hall. Regina walked slowly over to Emma who held her arms open. She practically collapsed into the blonde's arms in exhaustion, resting her forehead on Emma's chest.

"What do you say we cancel the reservation and get sushi?" Emma asked, her chin resting on Regina's head. Emma felt Regina nod against her chest and release a relieved sigh.

"Sushi!" Henry fist pumped with a grin, "I should have outed you guys years ago."

Emma threw him a fake glare and continued to tighten her arms around Regina. After her moment of rest, Regina pulled back and looked up at Emma.

"I want to kiss you, but I'm afraid that whole thing will happen again."

Emma nodded and chuckled a bit, "better wait until we get to the car."

The three of them walked down the hall and out the school, almost making it to the car when one last woman stopped them.

"Hello," It was the same woman who had been sitting behind Regina in the meeting.

"Hello," Regina said back, a weary look on her face. The woman laughed and held up her hands.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea all of that was going to happen."

"Yes, well apparently I am currently the most interesting lesbian on the east side of the city." Regina countered, leaning against the car. She waited for the woman to ask to quote her or, interview her, or take her picture.

"To be honest, my comment about divorcing my husband was all true. I really do think women are worth a shot," the woman kind of zoned off, obviously replaying some part of her failed marriage since her lips pursued, but came back quickly and continued, "but the second part was completely unrelated. My name is Kathryn Nolan. I'm the editor of ART magazine."

Regina's mouth dropped open, ART was her bible.

"I'm guessing you read it," Kathryn chuckled when Regina could only force out a nod, "well I'd really like to interview you and most likely have you model for the cover of our next issue. We'd focus on the business aspect of your job, appreciation of art and such, but unfortunately for you, it would probably gather even more interest if you opened up about your sexual orientation. No pressure though. The interview is still on whether you decide to or not."

Regina stumbled out an acceptance, still in shock, "Yes, I'd love to."

"Great, here's my card. Call me tomorrow and we'll set something up." Kathryn gave Regina one last nod before walking to a car that was only two spots away. Inside a girl sat in the back, playing on her phone as evidenced by the bright backlight shining through the darkness. Regina looked at the card and slid into the driver's seat.

"What was that about?" Emma asked as Regina began to back out of the spot without a word. Regina placed the card on Emma's knee. Emma picked it up and brought it to her face. After reading it she turned and stared at Regina.

"No way…"

Regina could only nod excitedly as she drove, a huge smile spreading over her face.

"No. Way." Emma repeated as she re-read the business card.

"What is it?" Henry asked from the back.

"That lady was the editor in chief of ART magazine. Aka the only thing your mother subscribes to. Aka something she made me read cover to cover on our second date. Aka the thing she waits by the mailbox like a excited little kid for."

"Nice, Mom!"

"And she what? Wants to interview you about your job?"

Regina smiled and bit her lip, "and my newfound gayness." she squeaked out.

Emma started laughing next to her, "oh, so now this whole thing is okay with you?"

"Yes, it's okay with me now," Regina responded while noticing cheeks were starting to ache from her smile.

Emma leaned back in her seat and looked out the window, "Well, seems like I'm the best thing that ever happened to you."

Regina tightened her grip around the steering wheel as her stomach flip-flopped, "It does seem like that, doesn't it?"

* * *

**Please review :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Another chapter, another year. This one's a cute one :)**

* * *

"At four A.E. my mom decided that we were going to my grandparents house for Christmas. She and Emma had been dating for a year now, and while it wasn't that she had been hesitant for Emma to meet them earlier, it's just my grandparents lived in Florida so we didn't see them that often."

I held up both of my hands to stop the crowd, "I know what you're thinking. Florida equals old people. At least that's what I thought, but my grandparents weren't like that. They lived in Palm Beach with their boats, and their cars, and their huge house. Basically, what I'm trying to say in a nicer version is that they were loaded" I paced down across the stage, "They were getting pretty serious, my mom and Emma, so I liked to think that they were using this as a test run to see how Emma would fit into the family.

I know my mom told my grandma about Emma beforehand on the phone, but I didn't really have any idea how she would react in person. I was still young and cute and could get away with murder though, so I knew I could protect Emma if things went south." I pushed out a single laugh, "Ha," I chuckled to myself while shaking my head, unable to relax my cheeks from smiling at the memory, "Looking back now, I had no idea what was ahead of us."

* * *

The Mills family plus Emma strolled out of the baggage claim, suitcases trailing behind them. Emma glanced at Regina and widened her eyes for a second as if to say 'oh my god, I'm meeting your parents I'm so nervous I could die'. Regina responded with a smirk and a chuckle that shook her chest but never escaped her lips.

"Regina! Henry!" An older man dressed nicely in khaki pants and a blue golf shirt waved his arms by exit on the airport.

"Grandpa!" Henry began to job, suitcase wheels, overwhelmed by the sudden speed were unable to keep up with the pace so the whole suitcase tipped over. Henry dragged it behind him until he made it to the slightly balding man with grey hair and hugged him tightly.

"Henry, you look so old. And look at those muscles…" The older man squeezed Henry's thin arm with an impressed face. Henry ripped his arm down in embarrassment and laughed, "I don't have any muscles, Grandpa."

Regina and Emma finally caught up to the two and the older man looked up from Henry to Regina, he encased her in a hug that lasted a few seconds.

"I'm so glad you guys came. Your mother is going to be so happy."

"Where is she now?" Regina looked around the airport, searching for someone.

"Oh, she said she had to finish cleaning up. We're going to meet her at home. You know how she is with guests at the house."

"I'm hardly a guest, Daddy." Regina laughed lightly as she picked up Henry's overturned suitcase.

"I know you aren't Regina. I was talking about this young lady right here." Henry Sr. turned to Emma who had been standing behind Regina unsurely. "Nice to meet you, Emma. I'm Henry Sr."

Emma held out her hand, but Henry Sr. just clasped onto her shoulder and pulled her stiff figure in for a hug. After a couple of awkward seconds, Emma relaxed and returned the hug.

Henry Sr. pulled away and smiled at all three, "Alright gang. Let's go."

Regina and Emma shared smiles behind the two Henrys' backs as they walked to the car.

They drove through a paradise of palm trees, beaches, sunglasses, and flashy cars until they pulled into a neighborhood filled with huge white houses that lined the beach.

"Wow," Emma whistled to Henry who she sat next to in the backseat.

"Right? They have a pool too. And basically everything you could think of." Henry nodded as his face hovered centimeters away from the window of the car.

"Kid."

Henry was too busy staring out the window to hear Emma. She nudged him, "Kid." This time he turned and looked at her.

"Is there good surfing here?" the blonde whispered.

"You know how to surf?"

"Uh, yeah. I went to college in California so that's basically all we did."

Henry tilted his head to the side, obviously surprised that he'd never known that before.

"Does my mom know?"

"About college. Not about the surfing. I kinda wanted to surprise her and then teach her."

"I…don't know if my mom will be game to surf," Henry watched Emma's face fall before continuing, "but I never thought she'd do a lot of things that you've convinced her to so it's worth a shot."

Emma's smile returned in full force, "thanks, Henry." She returned back to her spot at the window.

"We're here." Henry Sr. exclaimed cheerfully from the front seat, turning around to see Emma and Henry's excited faces.

They all piled out of the car, Regina and Henry Sr. casually walking up to the door, but Henry and Emma gawking and excitedly whispering to each other behind them. While Henry had been here a couple times before, the novelty had not even gotten close to wearing off.

Regina waited at the front door for Emma, wanting to be next to her when she met her mother.

"Now my Grandma. Actually, she's here today…Hi Grandma and Grandpa." I waved out into the darkness, assuming they were in one of the front rows, but I couldn't locate her. "Well, now it's a little awkward since I just remembered they were here, but yeah my Grandma's a very…excitable person." I stopped and sighed, " I mean, huh, she's really hard to describe.

It's not that she gets excited over things easily per say, it's just that when it comes to things that matter to her, she gets really, really involved with them. And wants to do everything she can to…I can't explain this right.

Just listen to the story, you'll see." Before I launched back into the story though I spoke again, "and just as a preface to this: Everyone out there, but mostly anyone who gay that may have not had the most supportive family. No, you cannot have my grandma. I know she's awesome and you're about to be supremely jealous, but she's mine. Sorry."

Henry Sr. walked through the house calling out, "Cora? Cora?" as he peeked his head into various rooms. Suddenly, a brown haired woman popped out of the kitchen straight ahead. She was wearing a sundress and her hair was pulled back in a twisted bun.

"Regina, dear, you made it!" Cora rapidly crossed the hallway remaining between she and her daughter with open arms.

Regina turned her head and smiled at Emma encouragingly as she hugged her mother. Releasing her arms from around Regina's back Cora took a step back, suddenly realizing that Emma was standing there too.

"Oh! You are so beautiful!" Cora quickly pulled Emma into a hug so rapidly an without any notice that Emma practically fell into the embrace. They pulled away and Cora looked at Emma with a huge smile.

"You must be my daughter's lesbian lover!" Cora clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Let's just go with girlfriend, mother." Regina chuckled, knowing just how overwhelmed Emma was about to be in 3...2..."

"Oh Emma there are so many things I need to show you. I'm so glad you came. Though I wish you would have found some time to come awhile ago. You and Regina have been dating for what….6 months? I think that's what she told me on the phone. I don't know why should would want to hide you though, you are just stunning dear," Cora dragged Emma into the house by her arm.

"Uh, a year." Emma responded just before Regina threw Emma a look. Cora turned around to Regina who followed them through the house.

"A year?"

Regina just ran her hands through her hair guiltily, "We were busy mother. This is the first time we could come down."

"Yes, well I did hear from Denise in New York that you were quite popular in terms of publicity this past year. She said you were on all these magazine covers and newspapers as the model for the lesbian business woman." Regina's cheeks turned red, she was still embarrassed over the whole ordeal.

"I suppose I should thank you for that." Cora squeezed Emma's elbow excitedly. Emma forced her head to nod up and down, her eyes wide.

"Now. Regina why don't you and Emma go get changed and we can go to the beach."

For once, Regina was more than willing to do what her mother said and interlaced her hand in Emma's to lead her up to their room.

Cora looked down at their joined hands and squealed, "Oh you two are just so cute. I haven't-Regina you haven't brought someone here since that boy from college. I'm so glad you're here Emma. We're going to have so much fun." Emma smiled, completely overwhelmed as predicted by Regina before they climbed up the stairs.

"Remember when you were nervous she wouldn't like you, and I told you that you had nothing to worry about?"

Emma nodded and allowed a chuckle to escape from her chest, "yeah…"

"Can I just get a, 'Regina, you're always right?'" Regina put on her most adorable face and batted her eyes. Emma rolled her own, "Yes, Regina you are _always_ right."

"Glad we cleared that up."

"Woah," Emma and Regina entered their room where their suitcases already lay. One wall was dominated by a giant window that looked straight out to the beach.

Regina moved in front of Emma and took the blonde's arms and wrapped them around her. They looked out at the beach for a little while before finally forcing themselves to untangle and get changed.

* * *

"I could go into the details of every day of that summer vacation, but I'm trying to cover almost 13 years of time here and while I'm sure you'd all love to hear that I got the newest Xbox that year," I stopped and looked at the crowd, throwing out my hands in emphasis, "Which you should because it was sweet…" I waited, dropping my head, one person seemed to get the idea and began to clap.

I threw my hands in their air like 'finally' until the rest of the auditorium was clapping and laughing for my pleasure. "Thank you. But seriously, those minute details would bore you to death so I'm going to boil down what we called The Christmas Emma Swan got her Biggest Fan, that fan being my grandmother for the record, to five events," I held up my five fingers.

"One," my thumb bent in leaving only four fingers still standing up, "Emma and I practically drowned in the ocean because we swam so long our muscles started to sieze up." The crowd chuckled to themselves, now knowing enough about the child version of me and Emma to not at all be surprised. "Don't laugh, I almost died!" I said with my own chuckle.

"Two," my forefinger bent down, three fingers standing up, "I swore I saw Tom Cruise. I still swear that I did. My mom said there was no way that Tom Cruise just decided to die a two inch wide blonde streak down the middle of his brown hair, but I think that was just part of his cover."

"Three," middle finger down, two fingers still standing, "Emma put surfing skills to good use. She was pretty awesome at it actually. She wore this like skintight guard shirt thing, and the surfboard was tied to her ankle, she looked like a pro. She tried to get me to try it, but I'd see one to many shark movies for that. After practicing for a day she finally showed my Mom. That was just…I mean I'm happy for them but like," I looked at people who populated the crowd and judging on how confused their faces looked I could tell they weren't following me.

I tried again, "apparently my mother has a certain...affinity for surfers because after Emma came in from the ocean, dragging her surfboard behind her my Mom kind of jumped her. They disappeared into their room and didn't come out til like…two days later. I just," I scrunched up my face in disgust. "Sometimes you just don't need to know what your mother does with her personal life," I shook my head back and forth at how scarring the assumption was for me, "It was-I was super happy for them cause they were in love, but just, no, nope. Nope." I took a deep breath and released it sharply causing the whole audience to giggle at how I was reacting.

"Anyway, so that happened. Back to the list what were we on? Two? Two." Ring finger done, pinky finger standing solo. "We all went fishing one day and my Mom caught this like record breaking fish. Which is hilarious because usually when we are on the boat fishing she'd rather tan or read some art magazine, but we gave her a rod for maybe ten minutes and she pulls out this huge fish.

Now, my grandpa was going to bring home to cook it for dinner but when we're coming in, this guy on the docks sees it and flips out. He's yelling 'who caught that? Who caught that fish?' and my Mom raises her hand slowly and he throws his arms up in the air and goes 'winner winner chicken dinner!' and then grabs her and the fish and takes a picture."

I start laughing, thinking how strange it was that the minute Emma came into our life, all these strange things started happening. I'm still laughing when I continue, "The picture ended up on the cover of a fishing magazine." I have to stop again because I'm laughing too hard and tears are gathering at my eyes, the crowd laughing along with me. "And let me tell you the last place my Mom wanted to end up was on some magazine with her thrown in a messy ponytail, her sunglasses pushed up on her head holding some smelly fish on one side and an even smellier man on the other side. My grandparents sent her the magazine after it got released. Apparently they had forged her signature giving the magazines the rights or something."

I looked into the crowd, trying and failing to find my grandparents again, "I don't if you guys just go around forging signatures a lot, but that was awesome. Naturally, Emma and I bought as many copies as we possibly could find in the city at would put them all over our house." My laughter had just begun to die down, but the memory was coming back to me so vividly, it started right back up. "We'd go through our day and hear these random shrieks come from various rooms in the house whenever my Mom would find a copy we'd planted.

She'd run to the garbage and throw it in there immediately, threatening us to never show her that awful picture again. I had the secret weapon on my side though. Emma could simply be chewing a piece of chicken or something and my Mom would find it cute. She'd gone completely soft on me. But in this case it worked to our advantage since Emma would just hug her or bat her eyes for a little and we'd be off the hook… until she found another one at least.

Emma bailed after the fourth copy was planted, but I made it all the way up to twenty." I nodded my head proudly, but pressed my lips together, "Yeah, life got pretty rough after number twenty…" I tapered off and the front row seemed to be shaking their head at my mischievous nature as a child.

"So we're down to one, the very last and most important event. Although honestly this might tie with the whole fish ordeal, but I sort of feel an obligation to make it number one. The last thing that happened on our Christmas break was that Emma Swan got my grandmother's blessing.

* * *

"Uh, shouldn't we have woken Regina?" Emma looked back at the house where Cora had found her downstairs making coffee. Within a matter of seconds she'd been snatched up and ushered out the door.

"No, let her sleep dear." Cora just waved off the idea of waking Regina up.

"Where are we going?"

"Oh I thought we'd go get some French vanilla coffee. I'm sick of the normal stuff."

Emma nodded in response, but somehow knew this was not about coffee. Just as she predicted Cora abruptly asked, "You love my daughter, don't you?"

Emma was caught off guard by the question but recovered quickly, she had spent almost a week with this woman already and was catching on.

"I do."

"Yes, anyone with eyes can see that. And plus, she's so head over heels for you even a blind man could probably see that," Cora chuckled to herself before turning serious briefly, "and you're a teacher?"

"Yeah, 5th grade."

"At Brown School?"

"Yes."

"Good, good. They only let the best teachers teach there." Cora nodded to herself, filtering through whatever information was flying though her brain.

"Have you been with other women before?"

Emma's lungs seemed to have stopped working because it took her a second before she could squeak out a, "yes".

"Good," Cora looked over at the blonde who was wringing her hands together nervously, "Oh don't look so worried, I had hoped you'd had some experience with women, so you answered correctly."

"Um, why did you hope that?" Emma forced her hands to relax, but her heart continued to beat rapidly.

"My daughter is the type to jump into something and go for it. If she's going to make a decision on something, she's going to stick to that decision. In this case, if she's going to date you, a woman, she's going to go all in. I have no doubt in my mind Emma that if given the chance Regina will love you the rest of her life. So you see, as her mother, I must protect her as best as I can from those who are less…decisive. Do you see what I'm saying?"

Emma nodded, "You don't want your daughter being someone's experiment."

"Exactly. So the fact that you have committed to women in the past makes me feel more at ease."

"Oh well, I've liked women my entire life. I'm really gay, even if people don't realize it at first, so you don't have to worr-" Emma stopped her ranting when she saw Cora laughing.

Cora reached out and squeezed Emma's hand, "I'm not worried dear. You're the perfect woman for my daughter. The perfect _person_ for my daughter. Which is why I want to give you this." Cora stopped walking and turned next to her toward Emma's now stationary form. She reached into her purse, pulled out a velvet drawstring bag and placed it in Emma's hands.

Emma opened it up slowly and carefully, having no idea what could be inside. When her fingers reached down into it, she froze. She looked back up at Cora who just nodded with a soft smile on her face.

Emma pulled her hand out, between her two fingers held a diamond ring. It was clearly vintage, having intricate swirls decorated by tiny diamonds on the setting.

"Cora, I don't-"

"Nonesense. This was my grandmother's. I promise you Regina will not expect to receive it. She knows this is the thing I hold most dear. But there's no other way you could cement a love like yours other than with a ring like this."

"I don't even-"

"I know you haven't even told me if you plan to marry her, but this is my way of saying I hope you do."

"I don't even know what to say…Thank you." Emma finally finished, her hands shaking slightly at the shock of both how supportive Regina's mother, as well as how precious and beautiful the ring in her hand, was.

Emma placed the wring back in the drawstring and the two women finished their walked to the grocery store to get the coff in comfortable silence.

As they walked back into the house Emma broke the silence, "I do want to."

"Want to what?" Cora looked over at the blonde with her head tipped to the side.

"Marry her."

Cora looked over and rubbed the blonde woman's arm encouragingly, "Then you shall."

"She shall what?" Regina strolled down from the stairs, her hair wet from a shower, "She shall what?" she asked again, her eyebrows raised curiously.

"I shall make you French vanilla coffee now." Emma announced as she held up the newly bought coffee with one hand, her other hand with the drawstring behind her back.

Cora,expertly shifted around to stand behind Emma, grabbed the drawstring and placed it back in her purse.

Regina smiled, leaned forward to kiss Emma on the cheek, "Okay."

* * *

**Yay for Cora for not being evil for once!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Gahhhh, feelings. Feelings are happening and I can't make them stop!**

* * *

"When I was fifteen my Mom was diagnosed as diabetic. Diabetes is often a complication of hemochromatosis, but still, it's not like we were prepared for her diagnosis. My mom was super healthy you see. And even though type I diabetes affects all types of people regardless of health, she just wasn't one of those types of people that you would assume to get it.

She was a vegetarian, was obsessed with the freshness of raw fruits and vegetables. Plus, she ran like all the time. She even got Emma to start running with her and they ran together pretty much every morning.

I think the number one reason thought we didn't expect it, was because of the timing," I sighed and took a deep breath, knowing this memory was a bittersweet one.

"In five A.E. my mother was diagnosed with diabetes on her wedding day."

* * *

"How are we supposed to get ready with our best friends when you're my best friend and I'm not allowed to see you?" Emma whined from her side of the changing screen. Regina smiled on the other side, pulling up her dress.

"We're sort of getting ready together right now," Regina slipped her arms through the straps and pulled the dress up to fit onto her body, "oh, shit." Emma heard Regina mumble as she twisted and pulled on her own dress, willing it to fit her body.

"Are you okay?"

Regina stared down at her dress that had seemingly gotten several sizes too big in a matter of weeks. She pulled it tight against her back, feeling the inch of material that needed to be folded over to fit properly, "Emma, it doesn't fit right…" Regina trailed off, tears immediately gathering in her eyes.

"Don't freak out. You have a handful of women in your room that are just waiting for this to happen. They showed me all their stuff, they're prepared."

Regina held her head back, keeping the tears in her eyes so they wouldn't run down her face and ruin her makeup. Emma's voice broke through the silence.

"I promise, okay? It's going to be okay. Everything is okay because I'm marrying you today. I'm marrying you today and even if you have to wear sweatpants and a tshirt to our wedding I will love every minute of it. I mean, I love my dress, I'm not taking it off, but you can wear your sweatpants."

Emma let the corner of her lips curl up, walking up to the changing screen and standing at it, waiting. Regina breathed out a laugh on her side, shaking her head at the goofy woman she was marrying.

"Plus, Regina, we had to run away to Massachusetts to get married. I don't think I could deal with this place again. I have seen too many misinformed Red Sox fans with too many weird accents to come back here." Emma whined in good nature, still inches away from the screen. She could hear Regina chuckling lightly to herself now.

"Regina?" Emma whispered, her lips almost grazing the material on the screen, wishing she could see the other side. Regina heard the change in tone from Emma and took a step towards the screen to hear her fiancé better.

"Yes?"

"I know it's bad luck, and I know you hate bad luck, but do you think we could find a way around the rules?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think maybe I could kiss you now? I'll close my eyes and I think if you close your eyes we'll be okay.

After a long pause Regina whispered into the screen, "Okay," needing the kiss just as much as Emma did. She continued with instructions,"Stand on the chair you have on your side and I'll stand on mine. We'll kiss over the screen, but make sure you close your eyes.

Both woman unsteadily climbed onto their respective chairs, their wedding dress clad forms raising above the screen. Regina's dress hung loose in the back, but the front molded against her chest perfectly. Emma's one shoulder dress fit her body like a custom made glove.

"Are you here?" Emma whispered, feeling the need to stay quiet. It was as if they were sneaking around together, breaking some rule, and if she spoke too loudly someone would open the door and tell them to get down.

"Yes." Regina breathed out and reached out her hand, making contact with Emma's arm. Emma grabbed onto Regina and moved her hands to her face, running her thumb softly along Regina's cheek.

Happy tears threatened to spill out of Regina's eyes again and her hand flew up to wipe a stray tear. Emma felt the action and softly brought Regina's hand to her lips, kissing the palm lightly.

"Regina-"

"Don't open your eyes," Regina warned, knowing her fiancé all too well.

"Bu-"

"Emma Swan, you better not open your eyes," Regina responded, her urgent whispers floating through the air. Regina could feel Emma smile under her fingers and nod in agreement.

Emma dragged her fingertips long Regina's jawbone until her hand grasped the back of her neck, pulling her closer for a kiss.

Just before they met, Emma heard Regina breathe in a sharp breath of air before slipping away from her fingertips. Within seconds Emma heard a crash and the sound of the chair scraping along the tile floor.

"Regina?" She asked worriedly, waiting desperately for a response.

"Regina?" She repeated, "Please Regina," Emma's desperation overwhelmed her voice.

"I'm opening my eyes, I know you're going to hate me, but I have to," Emma waited a few seconds longer, when she heard no answer her eyes flew open and looked down on Regina's side of the screen.

The moment she saw Regina's crumpled body on the ground she jumped down from her chair and ripped the screen aside. It clattered against the wall, but the sound faded away as she dropped to her knees next to Regina's head. Blood trickled out of a gash that Regina had on her forehead, seemingly from the corner of the side table she caught on her way down.

Tears immediately filled Emma's eyes, scooping Regina up as she had done to Henry all those years before. She kicked open the door with her foot and stood out in the hall with Regina in her arms.

Regina's head lulled backwards, her face considerably pale. With all the people bustling about, it took less than a second for someone to see Emma with her tears streaks tracking down her face and Regina, unconscious in her arms. Henry appeared moments later, sprinting when he heard people talking about how his mother had passed out.

Dressed in his tux, he froze a foot away from Emma, staring at the brunette's closed eyes before his own traveled up to Emma's frantic ones.

"I don't know," Emma answered to the question asked only through Henry's eyes. A sob ripped from her throat and she repeated, "I don't know."

* * *

I took a deep breath to calm my voice, clear my thoughts. The fact that I was looking back on this didn't make it easier. I still remembered seeing my mother's body hanging in Emma's arms. The desperate look in Emma's eyes are one that will always haunt me, "My mother survives. I'm telling you this half for you and half for me.

I don't know why, after all I've gone through in my life this memory is one that has stuck with me so strongly. It was just such a moment of conflicting feelings I think. Because I think that's the first time I realized that love wasn't just playing in parks, early morning breakfasts, and dinners together.

Love meant that you were giving a piece of yourself to someone. It meant that a piece of you was being sustained in someone else. If you trusted that person, it wasn't hard to hand over that piece of you, but I realized then, it meant taking on more risks. It meant being vulnerable.

It meant that in one swift moment that piece of you could be crushed. Pulverized. Obliterated. And I think that's the part that scares people. That's the part that makes people run from love.

But that day, Emma's eyes weren't afraid. They weren't ready to run. Instead, they held something else," I shook my head and pressed my lips together, "Emma's eyes weren't fearful that the piece of her in my mother was about to disintegrate in front of her eyes. No, Emma's eyes were practically begging my mother to take more of her. To take all of her if it meant that she would be okay."

* * *

Regina slowly began to stir in the hospital bed. First it was her foot, then her leg, her hand, her head, a slight groan released from her lips. Emma lifted her head up from the hospital bed where she was faced with beautiful brown eyes.

"Hi," Emma breathed out, the edges of her eyes crinkling.

"What happened?" Regina closed her eyes before blinking them open again seconds later.

"You passed out when we were kissing over the screen," Emma's hand found its way to Regina's leg where she soothingly rubbed up and down. Regina's face searched for the memory.

"It's our wedding day," she burst out, remembering. Her face paled when she saw that Emma was still in her wedding dress.

Emma chuckled and nodded, "Yes, it is."

"Why did I pass out?"

Emma moved her hands from Regina's leg to her hand, she took a deep breath, "They said you have diabetes, Regina. I guess it's a complication of-"

"Hemochromatosis," Regina finished, her gaze staring off at nothing in particular.

"Yeah, they said since you weren't aware of it you obviously weren't managing it and your blood sugar just got out of the normal range."

Regina nodded slightly, still staring off into space. Emma saw her jaw clench together slightly, her muscle working on the side of her face. After a few moments, Regina's jaw finally relaxed, she seemed to come back to the hospital room.

"I can't believe you opened your eyes," were the only words that came out of Regina's mouth.

Emma pressed her lips together forming a closed lipped smile, tears of relief pooling in her eyes, "I knew you were going to hate me for that."

"I can't believe I ruined our wedding." Regina sighed and hit the back of her head against the pillow in frustration.

"And this is why I know you're about to forgive me for the eye opening thing in about a minute," Emma said while looking at her cuticles in overdramatic boredom. Regina turned her head toward Emma, her hair sliding against the rough cotton pillowcase.

"You're going to make me ask, aren't you?"

Emma smiled at her cuticle, "Yes, I am."

"Why am I going to forgive you?" Regina sighed out, her eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Because I knew you would think that you ruined everything, and you'd blame yourself. Which is why…" Emma got up from her chair and went to the couch in the hospital room where Regina had neglected to see a few items spread across the cheap upholstery. Her wedding dress being one of them.

"…I made sure that we would be getting married today." Emma held up Regina's wedding dress, "I told the guests at our wedding 'I don't care, if I have to marry her while she's unconscious in a hospital bed, I'm going to do it.' Luckily for me though, you woke up, so at least I won't have to manually move your lips to say 'I do.'"

Regina looked at the blonde woman with absolute adoration, her cheeks tugging at her lips. When Emma raised her eyebrows and offered the dress to Regina, she couldn't help but break out into a laugh.

"I even paid off the nurse to let you sneak down to the café where our lovely wedding will be taking place."

Regina slowly pushed herself off the bed, her feet dangling just before the cold floor as she took her wedding dress from Emma's hands.

"Now, before you say anything, I am not leaving. I am not closing my eyes. I will not meet you at the café altar. I decided that we will start this marriage off the way we plan to end it. Together. And there's nothing you can do about it." Emma said while she gathered Regina's shoes from the couch and placed them in the brunette's hand.

Moisture pooled in Regina's eyes and her chest constricted on its own. She had no idea how she had gotten lucky enough to have the blonde woman in front of her love her the way she did. She pushed off the bed a little more and within seconds of her toes hitting the cold linoleum she was wrapped in Emma's arms.

I paced the stage, taking deep breaths that I hoped would open up my chest from its cramped condition, "You know when you watch a movie you've already seen, and you know exactly what's going to happen, but you fall for all their tricks anyway. Like you might have seen the hero escape from the fire alive four times already, but when he's walking out from the fiery building behind him, dirt covering his face, slightly limping, carrying an oxygen deprived child in his arms you just tear up.

And you're beating yourself up inside like 'get ahold of yourself Henry. Not only is he a fictional character you've knew this was going to happen, you signed up for this! And it's there in front of you and despite the need to act like a man with a grim face, you're balling like a baby cause you know all he's been through'" I looked down at the ground for a second, wondering when my feet had gone numb in my shoes.

"Yeah, that's kind of how I feel right now. Sorry if I'm totally harshing your mellow, and sorry I just said harshing your mellow, but there was just something perfectly beautiful walking my mom down that aisle made of plastic, tacky hospital café tables.

And even though I was there, even though I had her arm looped within mine, I couldn't help but wonder how I was able to be a part of that. How something that dysfunctionally wonderful was happening in my life.

"I think you look beautiful." Henry whispered in his mother's ear as they stood at the entrance of the café, waiting to get the cue to begin to walk.

* * *

**Please review :) They make writing this for all of you that much more enjoyable!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Another update just because :)**

* * *

"Now I think it's safe to say that after all was said and done, I had singlehandedly brought Emma and my mom together," I looked out to the crowd that chuckled and nodded, "Right? Right? It was all me and that liver. So now they're married. Emma moves in, they go jet-setting on some honeymoon, they continue to act all in love and gross and I'm starting to think it will never wear off. Actually, at this point I know it'll never wear off.

So there I am, at age 17, seven years A.E in the midst of my high school career. Both my mom and Emma's careers have taken off. My mom became the top art curator in the city, she had to turn down offers because she was so busy. Emma, funny enough, becamse the principle of Brown School," people in the audience clapped, and Frizzy Hair smiled and nodded in the front row. "Principle Butler retired and Emma's reputation as a teacher, as well as her new repertoire with the mothers of the school made her an easy replacement. Things were pretty sweet to say the least.

Except for one tiny, little, life changing, awful detail. I was in high school. Me, a thin, brainy, head in the clouds, constantly writing teenage boy, and though I had the capacity and desire for love as any typical teenage girl, I was utterly and hopelessly alone.

That's right. No girlfriends, no love interests, no rendezvous-ing in the park. That is," I lifted my forefinger up to the air, "until karma finally paid me a visit. Now I know you're thinking, 'this story isn't about you Henry. We want more cute lesbian family time we never knew we would enjoy so much' and yes, you shall get that.

But while this section is mainly about my epic pursuit of love, I am reluctant to say that the only reason I am currently engaged to the most perfect woman in the entire world right now, is because of the mother and Emma. So there you go, even when I'm talking about me, that happen to do something extraordinary. Figures."

* * *

"Where are you going?" Henry asked as he padded past the foyer in his sweatpants and t-shirt.

"Going to the grocery store, wanna come?" Emma filtered through the small bowl that sat on a side table for her keys.

"Why not?" Henry shrugged while he slipped on his shoes.

"Wanna drive?" Emma asked as she jogged down the porch steps.

"Sure," Henry looked up and caught the keys Emma threw at him and made his way to the other side of the car to slide into the drivers seat.

As they drove, Emma dug around in her bag for the list of things Regina had written out for her to get.

"Kathryn's coming over tonight," Emma said distractedly as she looked over the list she finally found the bottom of her bag.

"Oh I forgot I didn't really explain this. So Kathryn, the editor of ART magazine actually became really good friends with my mom. After meeting with her several times for business, she and my mom realized that they had a lot in common.

While Kathryn had been married, her husband traveled so much she essentially raised her daughter alone just as my mom had raised me, before Emma. So Katrhyn started to come around to hang out. Sometimes to talk and relax with my mom over a glass of wine or dinner. By association she, like so many others, fell victim to Emma's charms and became friends with her as well.

"Oh cool," Henry answered casually while he drove, pulling into the grocery store parking lot.

"Her daughter's coming over, the one that volunteers at the school," Emma said as nonchalantly as possibly while sneaking a side glance at Henry. Henry pulled out the keys and got out of the car, falling immediately in step with Emma as they walked toward the entrance.

"And…"

"Just thought you would be interested."

"Why would I be interested?"

"Because she's your age."

Henry stopped walking and grabbed Emma's arm to force her to stop too, "Emma…"

Emma played innocent, "What?"

"I know exactly what you're trying to do."

"I'm not trying to do anything," Emma began walking again, a smirk on her face. Henry jogged to catch up to her.

"This was totally my mom's idea, wasn't it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Emma!"

"Henry, remember that time where you wanted me to go on that roller coaster with you. The one that was like number two in the country?"

Henry furrowed his eyebrows, "yeah…"

"How long did you beg?"

"Like three hours."

"And did I give in?"

"No, because you were scared! You said you would pee your pants if you went on that ride."

"Reasons aside, did I give in?"

"No…"

"Did I give in!" Emma screamed, obviously enjoying the scene she was causing. Henry laughed and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Mom! You're screaming!" He pulled his hand off Emma's mouth reluctantly, but she remained perfectly still. He looked at her face and wrinkled his forehead before realizing what he'd just said.

"You've never called me Mom before."

Henry shrugged, and smiled easily "I think it's cause you used to be cool so I only thought of you as my friend, Emma, but now that's all gone away so you're just a mom."

Emma shook her head, but smirked nonetheless, knowing that it had meant more to Henry than he let on.

"Plus, you're trying to set me up on a date right now which is so a mom thing to do."

"What can I say?" Emma flipped her hair, "I'm a natural."

"So we split up the shopping list and got everything pretty quickly. Once we got home I went up to my room and tried to focus on the music I had been busy compiling before going grocery shopping, but the fact that a girl my age was coming over for essentially a blind date was scrambling my brain.

I tried for like a good hour to just ignore it. But I found myself being like 'oh I should take a shower, you know just because the one I took this morning wasn't really a good one'. And then a little while later I'd think to myself, 'I should definitely shave, my mom always hates when I don't shave'."

I looked at the crowd, "I mean, come on, do guys really shave for their mothers? No, they don't. They shave for pretty girls that just happen to be coming over to their house for a not-date, date." I sighed, embarrassed, "Four outfit changes, a gallon of cologne, and a 'Oh my god I just ran out of deodorant, oh no I didn't there's some right here' scare later, the doorbell rang.

"Henry, get down here!" Regina screamed from the bottom of the stairs. Emma quickly rushed up behind her.

"Maybe this is a bad idea," Emma whispered while she hugged Regina from behind. Regina turned in her arms.

"We're just…helping him along,"

"But we kind of did more than that."

"I wouldn't say tha-"

"Regina, we told Kathryn's daughter that our son was taking her out on a date and he has no idea! We basically left it so there is no option but for this to blow up in our faces!"

"You are the same woman I married, right? The one that hit on a seemingly straight woman in a hospital cafeteria while her son was sleeping in the floor upstairs? I'm pretty sure you gave your liver up as a pass at me. And if he's learned anything from you, he'll think on the fly," Regina's lips were curling upwards as Emma rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay. We'll see how it goes," Emma threw up her hands and retreated back to the kitchen where Kathryn and her daughter Paige were chatting at the table.

"He'll be right down," Regina reassured as she poured wine into glasses, a smirk on her face.

Henry gave himself the worst pep-talk imaginable in his bedroom mirror before walking down the stairs into the kitchen. The moment he stepped into the room, his eyes were immediately glued on the girl that sat at the table. Her amber eyes pierced his own, her brown hair falling in waves on her shoulders. She looked away from his gaze after a few seconds with a blush on her cheeks.

Kathryn, ever the matchmaker, stood up and joined Regina and Emma at the kitchen island while they pretended to chat about something work related.

Henry slowly approached the table and sat across from the girl, his own heart beating rapidly in his chest, "I'm Henry," he held out his hand, instantly regretting that he hadn't checked if it was clammy.

The girl shook it lightly, smiling as she ran her fingers through her hair, "I'm Paige."

"So, why'd you decide to come over tonight? Just to hang?"

The girl looked at Henry, confused. Her eyebrows furrowed, "You don't know?"

"I don't know what?"

Paige blushed again and let out a little laugh, "Our moms set us up on a date. We have dinner reservations I think."

"We do?" Henry found himself conflicted, on one end he had a strong urge to go shake all three women in the kitchen by their shoulders. On the other hand, he wanted to go hug them all for giving him the opportunity to go on a date with this beautiful girl.

"We don't have to, if you don't want to," Paige quickly rushed out.

"I do," Henry answered just as quickly. "Let me just get my coat."

Henry walked to the closet in the hallway, motioning secretly to Emma and Regina on his way out to meet him in the hall. They nodded to each other and made an excuse for Paige's benefit as they scurried away.

The three met in the hallway, just outside the kitchen. Henry paced back and forth running his hands through his hair.

"What's wrong with you guys!" He huffed while still pacing. Emma and Regina watching him in his distressed state.

"Henry we just wanted to help," Regina started up, throwing a look at Emma that said 'don't you even dare say I told you so.'

"You get me a date, fine. You don't tell me you made dinner reservations, fine," He got to the end of the hallway and pivoted around on his feet, "but you set me up with the most beautiful girl in the god damn planet and you don't even give me a heads up.

Like you could have at least said 'yeah Henry she's pretty' which would be a completely understatement but then at least I would have some sort of heads up." Henry kept mumbling to himself while he paced back and forth. Regina and Emma looked at each other, smiles breaking out on their faces.

After Henry was close to wearing a hole in the floorboards Emma grabbed him by the shoulders, "You're the smartest kid I've ever met. You're handsome, and kind, and nice, and creative. You're the type of guy girls bring home to their parents. And you already know her mom, so that's out of the way.

You're the guy they make movies about Henry. Sappy, romantic movies. I know, right now you're out there in school competing with jocks and muscle heads that have half a brain, but this girl's like you Henry. She's different than all those awful girls." Emma waited until he nodded, she smoothed his hair back and kissed him on the forehead. He took a deep breath, nodded at Regina as well and went back into the kitchen with his shoulders squared.

Regina looked over at her wife, "when did you become such a mother?"

"Henry actually called me Mom today," Emma mumbled shyly. She looked up to see Regina's reaction, but somehow it was less surprised than she imagined it would have been.

"You know, I fall more and more in love with you every day."

Just as Emma was about to respond, Kathryn peeked her head out from behind the kitchen, "Hey love birds, our children have just left on their first date together. Wine drinking must commence immediately, or else I may just get in my car and follow them."

Emma leaned forward and gave Regina a quick kiss on the cheek, "me, too." She whispered in response to Regina's earlier comment.

* * *

"That was the worst date I've ever been on," I deadpanned to a shocked crowd, "ask Paige, it was awful." I motioned to the exact brunette with amber colored eyes I had been talking about. She nodded in the front row, slightly chuckling. I turned back to the crowd, "we left the house only to realize that we had no idea where our dinner reservations were. We tried to call our moms, but they weren't answering. So we kind of just sat in the car, unsure of where to go. I said we could pick up some sushi and go to the park and she seemed to like that idea.

I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with the brilliant idea ya know? but once we got to the part it started to rain. We got drenched, made it all the way back into the car when we realized our sushi was still sitting out there, water logged. So I offered to go back and just eat at the restaurant. She agreed, so we went back to the sushi restaurant. This were going okay until I made her try this vegetable roll with urchin that I loved.

Turns out," I rubbed the back of my neck, preparing myself for the laughter that was about to come, "that she was allergic. So now her face is swelling up and it's all my fault. I take her to the grocery store to get some medicine because I had no idea what else to do. I get her the medicine and for a couple minutes everything seems to be going fine, considering. We're sitting in my car and her face is kind of going back to normal, but of course, then her throat starts to close up."

I put my hands in my face, the crowd cracking up at how much of a fail this date is, and I don't blame them. It was so awful it sounds like I'm making it up. "So at this point I'm absolutely freaking out. I drive her to the hospital and I call my mom, Emma, and Kathryn. Thank god they answer. When they arrive at the hospital I'm sitting in the waiting room with my head hanging down. It's midnight now.

I'm really upset, as I should be, because not only did I completely blow it with this girl, I almost killed her." I say distressed as I make eye contact with Paige who's smiling at me and nodding like it was just yesterday. I stop for a moment, unable to continue because that girl's amber eyes get me every time.

"At two a.m. they tell me that everything is fine. She's doing fine. They tell me I can go see her. Now, at this point the last thing I want to do is go see the girl I have just put in the hospital, but I man up and take responsibility. When I walk in there she's laying in the bed, looking just as beautiful as she did when I first saw her hours ago.

I'm thinking how impossible it is that someone who just spent her night with a face the size of a basketball could look so perfect soon after. I sit next to her in the bed, spewing out every apology I can think of. And she's just watching me, completely entertained.

I'm pretty sure I went as far to apologize for my shoes squeaking when I walked, I don't know. Did I?" I motioned to Paige who nodded and laughed out loud, "Yeah, see, I was just a mess. So after I run out of things to apologize for I just sit back in my chair, absolutely miserable.

She's still staring at me at this point. I though she was deciding what she was going to do with me. What she did end up doing, was the last thing I expected though.

* * *

"This was a complete disaster," Paige said calmly, looing quizzically at the boy whose head is hanging next to her hospital bed.

"I know."

"Your mothers came in here right before you did."

Henry looked up, his eyes wide, "They did? Oh god…" He groaned as he shut his eyes. His head fell into his open hands.

"They gave me this."

Henry looks up, seeing a folded piece of paper in her hands. Carefully, he takes it and opens it, noticing how Paige's eyes follow him intently.

Upon opening it he realizes that this piece of paper was the same one he was scribbling on in the waiting room. On it he had written:

_I screwed up the date of a lifetime today, with the most beautiful girl in the entire world too. She has these eyes, I mean god, they're like… I can't even begin to describe them right now. _

_If this works, which I assume it doesn't, but if it does and this will actually come true, please, please, please give me a second shot with her. Even though I spent hours of our date effectively and unknowingly poisoning her, I promise I will make sure it never happens again. Thanks._

Henry looked up, his face covered in a blush as he stammered out, "I, uh saw in a movie one time when I was a kid and it said if you wrote a wish on a piece of paper and then burned it, it could come true. I was gonna burn it, but then I came in here."

Paige's lips curled ever so slowly into a smile, she rolled onto her elbow and leaned over the bed, pressing her lips to Henry's.

"Next time, I'll pick the place," she said after pulling away, still hovering inches away from Henry's lips.

Henry nodded, completely absorbed a trance from the kiss.

"Henry?"

"Yes?" He asked with a soft smile, his entire world having been flipped upside down by that kiss.

"What are my eyes like?"

"Hm?"

"In the note, you said you couldn't describe them right now. What are my eyes like?"

"I can't tell you," Henry responded with a small smile. "I have to show you."

I paused and looked out at the crowd, unsure if they were enjoying my own personal backstory or if I was boring them. 'What did they look like?' I heard someone shout from the back of the room. I smiled and glanced to Paige who was looking at me with the same look she always gave me. The one where she tilted her head to the side, one side of her lips quirking into a smile, her eyes sparkling.

I kept my eyes focused on her as I answered the question that had been shouted, "What do her eyes look like? Well, I brought her to the park a couple weeks later, and I made her lay next to me under this huge oak tree.

We laid there for an hour, waiting for the perfect moment. It was October when we went, pretty breezy, and we were hudled up in our sweatshirts and sweatpants.

At four o'clock, right when the sun was in the a specific position I pointed up at the leaves. 'You see there?' I asked her. I pointed to a lightly leaf littered branch where the sun filtered through. The leaves were brown and orange and red. Some fell. Some didn't. Mostly they just swayed in the wind.

I remember she nodded, her eyes following my outstretched arm. I said, 'That patch of leaves, right where the sun streams through, that's what your eyes look like.'

She stared at the patch, watching how each ray seemed to light up and reflect off each leaf, making the colors bounce around through the air.

And she says, 'Those are my eyes?' in the tiniest voice I'd ever heard. 'Those are your eyes.' I replied."

I looked out to the crowd and Paige's eyes had begun to shine slightly, moisture gathering in them.

"I proposed to her under that tree," I said to the crowd, my voice trembling with emotion.

Paige bit her lip, something I'd seen my mom do to Emma countless times before. And I thought to myself, how lucky I am that my mothers handed her that paper in the hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

**A.N: Thank you all for the support. I really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey Regina, it's me. I'm not sure what time you're going to be home tonight since I know you have that gallery opening but I was thinking maybe we could check out this new place for dinner. I saw it on TV last night and it just opened. I made reservations already for nine just in case you do get out, but if not, don't worry I'll just ca-"

Regina wrinkled her forehead and looked at her phone which confirmed that the voicemail did end there. She put the phone back up to her ear and waited while she re-dialed Emma's line. It went straight to voicemail. She hung up, biting the inside of her lip mindlessly while she dialed Henry's number. Surely he would know where Emma was.

"Henry?" Regina heard her son's 'hey' in response before her phone beeped. She pulled it away from her ear again to see an incoming call from an unknown number. "Hang on Henry," Regina tapped her phone to switch the call over.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Dr. Whale from Columbia Hospital. You're the partner of Emma Swan, correct?" Regina's heart dropped into her stomach, she nodded before realizing they couldn't see her.

"Yes."

"Yes, okay. Well, Emma was hit by a car. We have her here in the emergency room and she's just about to go into surgery."

"What? Surg- I'm coming right now."

Regina sprinted to her car, not even bothering to tell the gallery owner that she was leaving. She would deal with that later. She sped her way through the traffic of the city, tapping her finger anxiously on her steering wheel as she bobbed and weaved between cars to get to the hospital.

Her hands were shaking tremendously as she struggled to take outer phone from her purse to call Henry, hoping she'd be able to talk coherently enough for Henry to understand.

"Mom? You hung up on me."

"Emma's in the hospital. She got hit by a car." Regina felt like the insides of her were being ripped out and skewered.

Henry's voice came through the speaker frantically seconds later, "Where? Where is she mom?" There were some crashes and ruffling around as Henry was assumedly putting on his shoes and making his way to his own car.

"Columbia, Emergency Room" Regina breathed out laboriously, her lungs deciding they didn't want to work properly.

"I'll be there."

* * *

I scuffed my shoe in on the stage, feeling like my ten year old self. I looked up at the crowd, knowing they were waiting for my explanation, my take, my voice,

"When we got to the hospital all they would tell us was that Emma was in surgery. My mom asked what she was in surgery for, but the doctor said there were too many things to count. The nurses reassured us that she should be fine, that they would be able to stabilize her, but I had trouble believing them.

What they told us an hour later was that she was internally bleeding, had probably cracked a few ribs along with most likely breaking her leg. That it was serious, but not life threatening.

I went out to the hallway for some quiet after awhile. The waiting room was suffocating me. Doctors would walk through the hall talking casually to one another. They never saw me hunched over and sitting against the wall. Eventually a doctor I'd never seen before chatted with a specialist. When I heard her name mentioned I looked up. They discussed her case, her condition, her diagnoses as they walked down the hall, completely unaware that she even had a son.

They said that her "broken" leg was smashed to smithereens. That it was nothing more than a pulp of blood vessels and shattered bone. They said they might have to amputate it. When I heard the word 'amputate' and I covered my ears. I didn't want to hear the lies they were spitting out. I convinced myself they were making a mistake. I hoped somehow they would go back into that operating room and realize 'oh this leg isn't so bad' as if it was something they'd just overlooked.

We waited in the waiting room for four hours without an answer, without any hope. While my mother sat there, she seemed like she herself had been hit by a car. She stared ahead of her, empty, a ghost, only snapping back to reality when a doctor would come in to reassure her once again that while he couldn't provide any information, she was going to come out of this alive."

* * *

"Mom, eat some of this," Henry placed a sandwich on Regina's lap, but her gaze remained straight ahead. He put a hand on her arm and shook it a little, raising his voice slightly, "Mom. Eat this." Regina's drifted back to the hospital room and she raised the sandwich to her mouth for the sole reason to appease her son.

She chewed the miniscule bite she'd torn off, ready to zone out again when Emma's surgeon entered the room. Regina shot up, the sandwich falling off her lap and onto the ground.

"How is she?"

"We stopped the bleeding, and her vitals are looking better. Her ribs turned out to only be bruised, rather than cracked like we originally thought."

Regina nodded, waiting for the surgeon the continue, for him to finish so that at least she could know. She needed to know. Because the state of waiting with no knowledge of what was happening behind those closed doors was slowly killing her.

"But," the surgeon began hesitantly, Regina's face paled, "we had to amputate her leg. There was nothing else we could do. There was nothing to reconstruct it with. It was just, beyond repair."

Regina took a few steps back, stumbling into her chair. Everything around her seemed to fade, her hearing, her vision, her smell, her touch, she seemed to retreat within her own body.

The loud 'bang' of a door slamming open echoed through the waiting room. A large burly man with a beard entered the room seconds later and caught Regina's eye.

He stopped the nearest nurse, "Is there an Emma Swan here? Did they bring her here?" his voice wavered slightly, coming out much weaker than one would imagine for a man of his stature.

"She just got out of surgery right now. I'm not sure about the details, but if you stick around I can let you know," the nurse replied quickly, clearly in a rush as she glanced down at her clipboard.

He nodded before looking around the waiting room. There, he met the dark brown of Regina's eyes.

"Who are you?" Regina asked evenly. When Henry heard her speak he jumped, besides talking to the doctors she had barely said a word in the last couple hours.

The man froze, his lips parting slightly in shock. Regina immediately stood up. Henry followed her and pushed off his chair as well, weary of the tone that had was resonating from his mother's throat.

"You're him, aren't you," Regina took a step closer as she hissed out her words. Henry put a hand on the brunette's shoulder. The man with the beard remained frozen, his chin slightly quivering.

"You're the bastard that hit her. Aren't you!" Regina screamed this time, the blood vessel in her forehead bulging. She took one more step towards the man.

"Mom…" Henry stayed right next to his mother, making sure she was within his grasp if necessary.

After a standoff that seemed to last forever the man's eyes filled with tears. He nodded ever so slightly.

With that one nod, Regina took off toward to man, ready to attack his two hundred twenty five pound form with her flailing one hundred and fifteen pound one.

Henry wrapped his arms around his mother's midsection from behind her. She clawed and screamed, tears overflowing her eyes, "Her leg was amputated you asshole! She can never walk on two feet again because of you!" Henry tightened his arms around his struggling mother his own tears beginning to stream down him face.

He wanted nothing more than to help his mother beat this man to a pulp. To make him pay for what he had taken from Emma. But he knew someone had to be the strong one here. Someone had to remain in touch with reality.

The man with the beard stood there stiffly, never moving a muscle, silently crying now. "I didn't see her," he stumbled out, "I promise. I promise I didn't see her," his struggled to speak through tears and his voice hitched uncontrollably.

But no excuse would settle Regina as she slowly collapsed to the ground on her knees, her sobbing coming out in painful bursts, "She can't run anymore. She can't run anymore." Regina cried as Henry, who had fallen to the ground with her wrapped her up in his arms.

Henry knew his mother wasn't talking about running. Emma liked to run, but it wasn't a live or die kind of thing for her. But taking walks in the park with Regina was. And around the neighborhood with Henry while they discussed books was. As were their bike rides to get ice cream, their inter-family tennis tournaments, the times they went ice skating.

Regina cried when she realized Emma would most likely never be able to do any of those things ever again. She cried knowing how Emma would never be able to surf again.

The burly man with a beard left soon after, he knew his place wasn't there no matter how guilty he felt. Henry and Regina stayed on the ground for ten minutes before Henry heaved his mother back onto her seat. Her eyes were red, swollen, and looking as empty as ever.

The nurse walked over to them, "You can go see her in five minutes. I'll come in and let you know. Okay?"

Henry nodded in response and placed a hand on his mother's back, he ducked his head so she'd make eye contact with him. When she did, hes straightened back up.

"We have to be strong, okay? We have to be strong because as much as you or I hurt for her, this is her life. This is her life and it's going to change forever. She needs something to hold onto right now and if we're drowning with her, we'll all sink to the bottom." Regina gazed into her son's hazel eyes while he continued, "Mom, she's going to need us more than any other time in her entire life right now."

Regina reached up and stroked her son's shaggy brown hair away from his face, her palm lingering on his cheek.

"How did you get so smart?" She whispered out, her voice raw from the crying.

Henry attempted a smile but only succeeded in pursuing his lips slightly, "You taught me."

When we went into that hospital room, Emma was awake and staring at the ceiling. We had no idea if she knew or not, but when she turned her head to look at us, I knew immediately that they had told her.

Her eyes filled with tears so rapidly that they barely lingered in her eyes before falling out. My mom ran over to her bed and wrapped her arms around her neck.

I went to the other side of the bed and she wrapped me in an arm as well. We stayed like that for half a lifetime, wrapped in each other's arms, salted tears expelling half of our bodies' liquid. My mother kept her end of our agreement and held Emma afloat those next couple days.

Emma felt shaking. She felt like someone was shaking her.

"Emma!" She snapped her eyes open to see Regina, leaning over her hospital bed.

"What?" Emma replied groggily, realizing within seconds that she was coated with sweat.

"You were screaming in your sleep," Regina responded softly. Emma looked at her wife's worried face. The room was dark and the only thing illuminating the two women was the moonlight that filtered in from the window.

"I had a dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Emma sighed and faced the ceiling, she really didn't want to relieve the nightmare, but Regina's face was so concerned she decided against her better judgment.

"The car is coming. I'm leaving the voicemail on your phone. Just like how it actually happened. It hits me, and I can see it hit me. It's like I can feel the pain, but my brain is watching it like it's happening to someone else," Emma looked at Regina again, wondering if it was really a good idea to continue, "I feel my leg snap. I feel my ribs being pounded. I feel my head smash and hit the ground. But I'm confused why it isn't affecting my brain. There's no adrenaline, no dizziness or blurry vision, it's all just so clear. I'm laying on the road now. I look down at my body, but as soon as I do everything changes at once and I realize I wasn't the one that was hit," Emma paused, wincing before she whispers, "you were."

Regina froze, watching Emma's eyes gather moisture in them. She stood up from her stool next to the bed and began to climb into the bed with Emma, waiting until the blonde shuffled over to give her more room.

She slid her feet under the covers carefully, making sure not to bump or hit Emma's half of a leg.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I know," Emma nodded weakly.

"No, Emma. I'm not going anywhere. Ever," Regina repeated, emphasizing her words.

Emma nodded again, her eyes empty and vast, "I know," she whispered out once again.

Regina shook her head, knowing that her stubborn wife was only appeasing her. She needed her to know this though. She tried again, knowing she would repeat it as many times as it took, "You can tell me 'okay' as many times as you want. I need you to understand this. I am not. Going. To. Leave. You."

Emma finally broke down, her insecurities bubbling to the surface, "I can't even walk, Regina! I get pains in a leg I don't have! Things people take for granted have all been ripped away from me. Life with me is hard. This is going to be hard. It's not something that goes away in a couple months or a year," Emma turned to wet face into the pillow but Regina stopped her.

"You know what I think is hard?" Regina asked.

Emma paused, looking up at Regina through teary eyes, "Life without you. Not even hard, unbearable. Unimaginable. So don't you dare think you're putting a weight on my shoulders." Regina cursed her eyes for being weak and started to gather moisture when she was trying so incredibly hard to be strong. "because if I didn't have you, I don't know how I'd survive. "

* * *

"In the hospital room she was caring Regina, worrying mother Regina, loving wife Regina, but when she would leave the room to get food, or get some air I would find her leaned against a wall, sometimes still standing, sometimes all the way down to the ground, releasing the tears that threatened to consume her. She thought she was being sneaky, she'd come back with red eyes and we'd pretend we didn't notice, but we knew." I ran my hands through my hair, why did I keep doing that?

"For the same reason Emma had been so scared when my mom fainted on their wedding day, my mom was crushed by Emma's amputation. I think thats reason, Emma allowed her to grieve for her in private; she knew how sharp the pain of not being able to protect a loved one from life was. How much it felt like failure despite the fact the only blaming agent was coincidence.

How even though the situation may affect yourself only the tiniest fraction, if hurt more than if it was happening to yourself."

* * *

"Are you excited?" Regina glanced next to her side where Emma sat in the passenger seat of the car. The sun shone through the window and seemed to make Emma's blonde hair shine.

"Yeah, I am," Emma smiled genuinely. After the worst weeks of her life, she was looking forward to being able to have an extension of the half leg she was supporting now.

"You know, once I get this, you aren't gong to be able to ignore me when I want you to come watch action movies with me."

"And why is that?" Regina's smile was relaxed as she turned the car into the parking lot of the hospital.

"Because I'm going to chase you and throw you over my shoulder and force you to watch it with me."

Regina turned off the car the engine purring to a stop, took one hand and pushed Emma's hair behind her ear. Her hand slipped behind Emma's neck and she leaned forward to kiss her.

They were ushered into a room right away and the doctor came in minutes later holding a prosthetic in his arm. Emma and Regina didn't say anything at first, only stared at the sleek, mechanical leg.

"I'm a bionic woman," Emma mumbled to herself. The doctor leaned down and fitted it on to Emma so that it wouldn't come undone.

"This is going to take some getting used to. You'll have to go to therapy and really work on learning how to walk with this thing. For now though, why don't we see if you can stand with it."

Emma slid off the table, her good leg hitting the ground first. She steadied herself and straightened, working to balance with the metal extension that was now connected to her. Regina stood and got nearer to Emma so that she had something to grab onto if she felt off balance. Once Emma was standing straight up and no longer swaying, a grin covered her face.

"Good, very good. How does it feel?"

The doctors words went deaf to Emma's ears for she had her eyes pinned on a table a couple feet away. With her gaze trained on that table she stepped with her good leg, following the movement with a shuffle-drag by the bionic leg. She swayed unsteadily but remained upright.

She repeated the motion, which was awkward and slow, but it was moving. She was really moving. The doctor and Regina watched her with amazement. She almost made it there when the bionic leg shuffle wasn't enough to steady her body, she went flying forward and caught herself on the table with her hands and chest, her legs splaying out.

As she slid down the floor she looked up to see Regina and the doctor waiting for her to cry, scream, have a fit at the failure.

Instead, she threw her head back and laughed loudly, "I am a bionic woman, a cyborg, a transformer. Didn't think it would happen this way exactly, but I have wished for this moment my entire life."

The doctor wrinked his forehead in confusion, wondering if this was just some elaborate meltdown, but Regina kneeled down next to the blonde and held out a hand to help her up.

"I was wondering when you'd come back."

* * *

"Emma worked harder than anyone that rehab center had ever seen to regain her mobility. She wasn't discouraged by falling like many other patients were which allowed her to push herself farther every day.

When she started coming home from therapy with a bruise on her eye from failing face-first, my mom told her to scale it back though.

She was never able to surf again, but she took up bike riding. You're probably thinking how impossible that is, but she did. Turns out that was her calling or something. She entered a bunch of races in the city and did really well in them." I wished I had brought pictures to show them how awesome she looked with her biking prosthetic and all her gear. I wished I had done a lot of things.

"She'd never admit it, but I think she ended up growing love that prosthetic. There was nothing that made her happier than when a little kid would poke her prosthetic and ask if she was a robot. She'd launch into some long story about the war against the terminators," I faced the crowd and nodded my head slightly,

"I mean she really had a complicated back story going. There were robots and cyborgs and four different planets and basically it ended with her being crowned bionic princess." I chuckled softly with the crowd.

"In a way though, and this just feels wrong to say, it brought us closer as a family. I mean we were in pretty good shape before but, I think it almost eased my mom from feeling the burden that her and my disease had put on Emma in the past. Obviously I'm not saying that she was happy Emma had something tragic happen to her, but more that she was happy she was able to support Emma as Emma had done to her.

It worked out, ya know? Everything just seemed to work out."

* * *

**:)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I need to thank all of you for being so supportive. Your reviews mean so much to me and honestly, they keep me inspired. So thank you for that. **

**We've got a few more chapters after this one. I decided to double update today because I'm going away for the weekend plus a few days and somehow I feel as though you guys are not going to want to wait for a long period of time for that last chapter. :)**

* * *

"You know how sometimes, despite all the shit that may be whirling, there are just those perfect days. Where you woke up without a worry in the world and made it through that whole day keeping it that way. Well, in that one year, there's one day I remember. One day I will never forget. One shining light in the darkness. January 14th 2013. Twelve A.E.

* * *

Henry and Paige walked arm in arm behind Regina and Emma through the streets of the city. The air was chilly and their breaths could be seen clearly, billowing like clouds in the air.

It was unusual, for a day to be this cold yet so sunny, which is why half of the city was out enjoying it.

Emma glanced over at the woman next to her. Regina was busy watching a small child play in the snow with a soft smile on her face. Emma reached her gloved hand down and squeezed Regina's.

Out of nowhere, Emma stopped and pulled at Regina's hand, "If you could do anything right now, what would it be?"

Regina turned to her wife, her eyes gazing into Emma's. She tilted her head, "Why do ask?"

"Don't worry about it," Emma replied, her smile growing into a toothy grin, "so what is it?"

Regina bit her lip in concentration as they continued to walk, "I think I'm exactly where I want to be right now." She finally decided, her eyes rising from their downturned state. Emma shook her head, emerald eyes sparking.

"Henry, if you could do one thing right now, what would it be?" The group continued to walk, but Emma twisted her head to look over her shoulder at the now twenty three year old young man.

He put his hand to his chin and stroked an imaginary beard sarcastically, but after a swift nudge in the ribs from Paige he threw up his hands, "Okay. Okay. I want to…" Henry looked around the streets, seeing the snow covered ground, vendors taking up either side of the sidewalks with hot chocolate stands. His eyes finally landed on the entrance to a park. The snow there was so different, so pristine in comparison to the dirt-covered slush they were currently walking through. "I want to go sledding," he finished with a grin.

Emma chuckled and glanced over to Regina whose eyes had widened. She looked down at her wool peacoat and heeled feet. She held out her arms and shook her head, motioning to what she was wearing.

"No way. I-"

Regina wasn't able to finish before Emma began dragging her by her hand into a store. Henry and Paige looked up at the store's sign _New York Outdoor Co._ The windows were lined with mountain climbing gear, sleds, snowshoes, and active winter clothing.

Paige leaned over and whispered in Henry's ear, "Your mom's going to kill Emma." Henry smiled as he felt Paige's breath against his skin.

"Yeah, she is, and I'm not going to miss one second of it."

He pulled her inside similarly to how Emma had with Regina. After the door swung shut behind them they looked around. The walls were covered with hanging sleds, below zero sleeping bags, freeze dried space food.

"Where's mom?" Henry approached Emma from behind. She was sitting on a bench, pulling a snow boot onto her prosthetic leg.

"She's in the fitting room." Emma's smirk was mischevious. Her eyes the brightest Henry had ever seen. Emma tilted her head to Paige, "Pick out whatever you'll need to be laying around in the snow. It's on me."

Paige began to protest but Emma looked down at her leather boots with her eyes raised, "So you're telling me you like freezing cold, wet feet?"

Paige looked down at her own feet and blushed. Henry went over and put a hand on her shoulder, guiding her to the boot section right in front of Emma.

They grabbed boots for all of them, followed by some winter coats. When Henry and Paige were busy picking out sleds, Emma began to pace in front of the fitting room.

"How ya doing in there?" Emma pulled on a hat she had found near the entrance of the store.

A muffled voice cried from behind the door, "I'm not coming out."

"Aw come on, it can't be that bad. I'm sure you look all explorer-y and hot."

"Emma," Regina whined, Emma began to think she wan't doing to come out but eventually heard the click of the door unlocking. Regina peeked only her head out, keeping the rest of her body hidden in the room.

"I look like a marshmallow."

"Marshmallows are cute."

"Emma!"

Regina's eyes begged Emma to let her take it off, but Emma was resolute. Reluctantly, Regina slowly pulled the door away to reveal her form. She was wearing black snow pants that were too long and accurately put, marshmallow fluffy. Her winter coat was stylish and high tech, but much too big and she held a hat with a fluffy pompom in her hand.

Emma looked Regina up and down, attempting to withhold her chuckles, but snorting as they came out her nose. Regina sighed and pouted, about to close the door when Emma stopped it with her foot.

"You look great."

"I look ridiculous!"

"Who cares? We're going sledding with our son and soon to be daughter in law. No one cares what you're wearing. Plus, just think about how warm you'll be."

Regina wrinkled her forehead, seemingly debating whether to keep it on or not,"Are you going to ever remember the image of me in these clothes after today?

Emma weighed it back and forth in her head, literally tilting to either side, "Ehhh, no."

"You're lying."

"I am. Keep them on."

"Mom! Looking good," Henry shouted from the other side of the store where he wore a green ski mask that had only the smallest hole for his face. He grinned, loving how ridiculous he looked. Regina chuckled, wondering if her son was trying to make her feel better, or just happened to be that well-timed.

"Fine." Regina sighed as she began to close the door, but again Emma stopped her.

"Oh no, you're wearing that out of the store. We're going straight there."

Regina grumbled and gathered up her old coat in her arm, "You're lucky you're blonde."

"What does me being blonde have to do with anything?"

Regina tilted her head, a devilish smirk on her face, "Oh, don't you know dear? Blonde's just happen to be my type. And that's all I'm in this for anyway."

Emma scrunched up her nose and shook her head slightly, "You are so in trouble now.

She walked to the register, smiling at Regina the whole way. "Henry? Paige?" Emma stood in front of the register and faced the cashier. She put her own hat on the counter, "We…have a lot."

The young teenage cashier nodded and scanned the hat. He turned to Regina who searching through her layers of clothing for the tags. She held out a tag and he leaned over the table, almost falling over it to scan it with his gun.

"Woah, hey there buddy that's my mom!" Henry shouted as he took a menacing step forward. The young man instantly retreated back behind the desk, holding his hands up defensively. Emma rolled her eyes and shot him a kind smile.

"He's just messing with you, don't worry."

The cashier let out a nervous breath of relief followed by a more relaxed laugh. He leaned back over and continued to scan the various tags that Regina held out.

After Regina, Henry pushed Paige up to the desk and twirled her so the cashier could scan her tags.

"This too!" Henry held two stacked sleds over his head, lofting it over the women.

"You guys seem like a pretty perfect family," He commented bravely as he punched a few keys on the register.

Emma snorted. Henry laughed. Paige giggled. Regina smirked.

"Not even close, man. I've only got one leg. Emma pulled up her snow pants to reveal her robotic prosthetic."

"I have her liver inside of me," Henry pointed at Emma, "and let me tell you, it's not the most functioning organ I've every received."

"I'm diabetic among other things," Regina admitted with a shrug. Emma wrapped an arm around Regina and kissed the side of her head with a smile on her face.

"I have a patch of hair that has no pigment in it?" Paige added with a shrug and her eyebrows raised.

"Oh god, no! No you do not! I cannot marry you," Henry, ever the dramatic, pretended to faint. Regina and Emma looked back at the cashier who regretted bringing up the topic in the first place.

While Emma waited for her card to run through for the purchases, she leaned agains the desk and looked at her wonderfully goofy family. Henry had his ski mask on still, Paige was rolling her eyes while Henry tied a bandana around her neck, cowboy style, and her wife was standing there looking more like a marshamallow than ever.

Emma chuckled as she realized that Regina Mills. Evil Queen, Regina Mills as the industry sometimes called her when she was particularly brutal on an art show, couldn't even put her arms down from the amount of fluff that was encasing her body.

"Ma'am." Emma jerked her head to the side, effectively snapping out of her trance.

"Here's your card. Have a nice day." The cashier nodded firmly and pushed her card back to her over the desk.

* * *

"We walked down the street in our new winter clothing looking we had just come from climbing Mount Everest.. My mom opted to zip her coat up to her eyes so that no one would recognize her.

We walked to the biggest hill in the park with our sleds. Being the city people we were we trudged up it, stopping several times, slipping here and there and crawling the rest of the way up. Emma carried my mom on her back the last stretch since I'm pretty sure she was losing the strength to move her limbs. Something my mom easily blamed on Emma's clothing choices." I scanned the crowd, squinting in an effort to try and recognize some of the people I had labeled as black blobs earlier. I wanted to see them now. I wanted to recognize them.

"So now we're at the top of this giant hill. There's no one in sight. And the adrenaline and endorphins that we've pathetically built up from the brief exercise has us all pumped and ready. We stand there for a second looking out at the now terrifying hill we had claimed to be manageable just minutes earlier.

Emma plants the sled down, it's long enough so we can all fit on it if we sit behind each other. I'm designated the pusher, and the game plan is to give the sled a head start before jumping on.

Naturally, my push gives the sled a rocket like launch, because I'm so incredibly. And also just as naturally, at the last minute, I trip. The sled goes flying down the hill without me," I smirk to myself. I can still hear the collection of screams that followed as my family tumbled down the hill on that sled, "Paige flew off first. She rolled off halfway down and proceeded to tumble to the bottom on her own.

My mom and Emma made it most of the way down. The only reason they ended off of the sled was because Emma told me later and this is a quote, 'You're mother looked so marshamallow-y I wanted to see what it would look like when she rolled', I stopped to chuckle, the crowd joining along with me. "I remember this so distinctly for some reason.

I was standing there on top of that hill watching my fiancé make snow angels halfway down. I saw my mom laying on her back, her head protected by a pillow of snow. She was laughing harder than I'd seen her laugh in my lifetime, her eyes looking straight up to the sky.

Emma lay next to her, leaning up on her elbow. Her hat was tilted to the side. She was cracking up as well.

After a moment, Emma leaned over and kissed my mom. I saw my mom's hands lift from the snow to hold onto either side of Emma's face. It made me smile.

When I glanced down to Paige, she was still making snow angels. After a couple minutes, she felt me looking at her and looked up. When we made eye contact she smiled at me with this look. This look she does, I can't explain it." I began to pace, my heart beating erratically, excitedly.

"I don't know, everything that day just seemed brighter, happier, louder, more. That day, life just seemed to be more.

And all I could think there while I stood on what felt like the top of the earth was that right here, in this moment, now and forever, this... this is love."

* * *

**Sometimes I just get in a mood to write the fluffiest fluff. I mean I'm usually in that mood, but writing this chapter especially brought it out in me. Hope you enjoyed it!**


	12. Chapter 12

I finished my water out of nervousness. My breathing turned shaky as soon as I knew what point in the story I was up to. I looked at Paige for strength and she forced out the tiniest smile I knew was just for me.

"We're nearing the end of the timeline now," I tried to sound upbeat, but my heart was weighing down my chest. The reasons for this day came flooding back to me as the damn of denial I had built up over the past hour and a half came crumbling down.

"Thirteen A.E.," I looked down at my feet again, hoping I'd be able to make it through this. I had to. I needed to. "Thirteen A.E brings us to this year."

The crowd was silent. They knew what was coming. "Many would say that thirteen A.E. was the year my mothers' love story was sealed as the greatest. That this is when they became extraordinary, but I hope you've seen that it always has been. They always were."

* * *

"Hey, can you pass me those papers over there?" Emma sat straight up on the couch while she filled out forms for work. The TV flickered in the background, but neither woman was really watching it.

Regina lie down on the length of the couch, her feet, encased in a blanket, resting on Emma's lap. The brunette glanced over to the side table and reached to grab the stack of paper clipped papers. She winced as her arm extending and her stomach stretched to get them.

"Are you okay?" Emma stilled the pen in her hand and glanced up at the brunette whose face was twisted in pain.

"Ye-yeah, I'm fine," Regina finally grabbed onto the papers and plopped them on Emma's lap, leaning back into the pillow with a sharp breath. Emma placed the papers next to her.

"No, really. What's wrong?"

Regina's face remained passive, but pain swirled in her eyes.

"I just have these pains in my stomach. I've had them the last couple days. I thought it was indigestion or something, but they're gett-" Regina clamped her jaw shut and held her breath, waiting for the stabbing feeling to pass, "-ing worse," she finally forced out through gritted teeth.

Emma lifted Regina's legs off of her lap and went to kneel on the floor next to the couch, "Does anything else hurt?"

"Well my-" another wave crashed inside Regina's body and she waited til it was gone, "back hurts too. But I-" Regina's face turned pale and Emma could see the panic in her eyes.

She tried to scramble up, but she was in such pain she could only lean over the couch partially before she got sick onto the floor. Emma rubbed her back calmly until she stopped. Inside, her mind was buzzing.

She was rapidly running through everything they would need to take Regina to the hospital. Overnight bag. Bedroom. Car keys. Kitchen countertop. Shoes. Doorway. Wallet. Foyer.

Regina leaned back in order to take a shuddering breath.

"We're going to the hospital," Emma said firmly as she helped Regina sit up straight. She'd worry about cleaning the carpet later. Regina nodded, suddenly too weak to protest like her usual self

"Can you walk?" Emma asked as her eyes flickered around.

Regina nodded. While the last thing Emma wanted to do right now was leave Regina's side, getting to the hospital was either going to take a long time if they hobbled there together, or a short time if she sprinted to get all the stuff now.

As Regina shuffled to the car, bent over and in obvious pain Emma gathered the bag, keys, wallet, shoes. She sprinted to the car, making it before Regina even got there and helped her in to the passenger seat.

Emma had never driven so fast in her entire life. She bobbed and weaved like a race car driver, skidding emergency room of the hospital. Thankfully, she had brought Regina a bag. She'd thrown up into it two more times on their way to the hospital.

The blonde hopped out of the car at the emergency room and called a doctor over to get Regina medical attention. By the time they wheeled out of the stretcher Regina's face was pasty, her eyes lulling open and close.

The second she was rolled away, Emma felt the fear build and bubble inside of her. There was nothingelse to do but wait. She parked the car and made her way into the all too familiar waiting room that they had collectively spent too much time in.

She whipped out her phone to call Henry, hoping he wasn't in class, hoping he would answer.

"Hey Emma."

"Henry? I'm in the hospital."

Henry dropped the sandwich he was nonchalantly eating and swallowed the huge gulp already in his mouth, "What? Is Mom okay? Are you okay?"

Emma bit her lip and willed herself to keep her voice steady, to not scare Henry more than he already was.

"I don't know. Regina just, she told me she had some pain in her stomach and then she started throwing up. I don't know what happened."

"I'm coming, I'm leaving now," Henry stood up in his room, packing a bag with one hand. His roommate stared at him quizzically, but he just kept shoving clothes into his duffel bag. He hopped on one foot, pulling a sneaker on while his other hand held the phone up to his ear to hear Emma's confirmation. He out within a minute.

"Come quick," Emma choked out. She pressed her lips to muffle to sharp bursts of air that were escaping out of her chest. The thump in her throat growing so rapidly she could barely swallow.

* * *

"I got there an hour later, breaking more traffic laws than I can count in the process. Emma was sitting in the waiting room at this point, still without answers.

The only thing they had told her was that they were doing some tests. We waited in that white walled, thoroughly bleached room and stared straight ahead.

The longer we sat there, the further our sanity seemed to be slipping away. We were hollow bodies of what used to be. We didn't talk, we didn't eat, we barely breathed."

I swallowed the lump growing in my own throat. Wishing more than anything I could feel Emma's hand interlaced with mine right now.

"They came to get us after two hours and brought us into my mom's room. She was awake, but I could tell she was weak. Her eyes were dull and her skin was pale beyond belief.

I remember exactly what time it was when that doctor told us my mother's diabetes had gotten out of control. That her pancreas was failing because of it. 7:51.

I remember what time it was when he told pancreas transplants were very rare. 7:52.

That they were a risky procedure and the wait list was very long. 7:53.

That her chance of survival was low. 7:54

That she might die. Fucking 7:55.

I remember hearing Emma's sob rip out of her body the minute the doctor left. I could see tears forming in my mom's eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. I could see those silent tears gather at the sides of her eyes and trickle down the side of her face.

It only took Emma ten minutes before fury whipped inside of her. She was angry at everything. Angry that the doctor that had seemed so passive. Angry that he hadn't discovered the problem sooner. But mostly, angry at the world for doing this to her wife.

I sat down next to my mom in the hospital bed, holding her hand as we watched Emma kick the wall with her prosthetic. She wasn't satisfied with the lack of pain though, and even though the pain stabbing inside her chest was currently radiated through her body, it wasn't enough. She needed more.

After twenty minutes, the anger ebbed away. Emma sat on the other side of the bed as I did, her eyes red and swollen from crying.

My mother hadn't said a word this entire time. I thought it was because she was weak and I mentally begged her to gather the strength, but I realized later that it was because she wanted to pick very carefully what we would remember. She only wanted the perfect words to come out, the ones that mattered."

The tears in my own eyes were welling up now, swelling as they threatened to fall. I pressed my lips together tightly and tilted my head back, wanting them not to desperately.

"When she finally did, talk that is, I immediately regretted my internal begging. I wished she hadn't thought so carefully, chose the words so delicately."

* * *

"Emma," Emma raised her head from the hospital bed where she was resting her forehead on Regina's arm. "My Emma," Regina sighed out, tears gathering at her eyes. Her chin trembled and she pressed her lips tightly together to keep from bursting out.

"What are you doing?" Emma voice came out of her throat both desperate and resolute.

"I need to tell you how much you-"

"No."

"Please, Emma."

"No, we're not doing this. We're not doing this now. We're not doing this ever. We were supposed to die together, Regina. We talked about it!"

Wetness pooled in Emma's eyes as desperate won over and her voice trembled, "We're going to die in our sleep together when we were old. And if someone had to go first we decided that I would because you're stronger. You've always been stronger. Because you're Henry's mother and he needs you. We talked about it. I can't-" Emma's voice hitched, "I can't do this without you."

Regina allowed the tears to continue to track down her cheeks, looking at the blonde woman that was begging her to stay, "There's nothing I can do."

"There has to be something,"

"You heard what they said."

"There has to be something! There's always something!" Emma shouted abruptly before skirting out the room to find their doctor in the hallway.

Regina took a deep, shuddering breath in and looked over at Henry who was crying silently, his eyes boring into hers. She knew in that moment that it was not possible for any more sadness to fit into them.

"I need you to promise me something," she pushed out, her energy obviously waning. Henry bit his lip to keep it from trembling and nodded.

He wanted so badly to reject his mother's farewell like Emma had, but he knew she needed someone to listen to her in this moment. Short bursts of sob escaped from his clamped shut lips.

"Promise me you won't let her give everything she has to me," Her eyes drilled into his, pleading him, begging him.

* * *

"I wanted so badly to be able to tell her 'okay'. I wished I could have lied to her in that moment and just nodded. I wish I could have kept that promise, but when it came down to it, I, more than anyone else, knew the depth of my mothers' love. I knew that not even I would be able to stop it, stop Emma.

So I shook my head and replied, 'I can't. I can't do that.' I remember my mother allowing the smallest smile to cross her pain ridden face as she whispered out, 'it's okay'.

I remember I couldn't stop crying. I didn't want to stop crying. I cried so forcefully it hurt my chest. My throat felt like it was on fire, but it wasn't enough.

I understood Emma kicking the wall now. I wanted to kick a wall. I wanted to tear apart the building brick by brick. I wanted to take all the pain in the entire world if it mean that she would feel a fraction less.

My mother's words played in my head and I imagined what would happened if she died," my lips trembled, my tears finally falling, I took a deep breath, "I imagined Emma depressed and alone. I imagined her withering away, her eyes dulling as the days passed.

But there was my mistake you see, thinking Emma would give up that easily."

* * *

The doctor walked into the door, Emma quick on his heels.

"But it's possible?"

"Yes, it's possible. There are only a few select surgeon's that will do it though."

"'l'll do it."

"You've already given half of your liver, this procedure is already dangerous as it is, not to mention the complications you might face."

"I'm doing it."

Regina and Henry looked and saw the doctor and Emma staring intensely at each other.

"You need to accept that this could make things much worse,"

"Dr. Palmer. What happens to my wife if we don't do anything?"

He looked at her for awhile, wishing he could lie to refrain her from doing what she was about to do. He sighed heavily, "She dies."

Emma's emerald eyes bore into his own, "There's nothing worse that that."

He knew she wasn't going to back down. He knew whatever he told her wouldn't do anything, and while she was riskily throwing around her own life, he had to admire her persevering nature.

They both glanced over to Henry and Regina who had only overheard their conversation in fragments. The doctor sharply nodded and walked out of the room.

"I'll get the paperwork needed."

Emma instantly deflated once the doctor left, her confidence and reassuring personality exhausted. She shuffled over to Regina's bed and sat in her designated stool.

"There's something I have to tell you, and you're not going to like it."

Regina didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't blink. It was almost as if she knew exactly what Emma was going to say, "what?" she finally pushed out.

"I'm going to donate some of my pancreas to you."

"No."

"Regina-"

"No."

Emma pushed off the floor and her chair skidded backwards, "No! You don't get to tell me no! You don't get to leave without letting me give everything I have to try and get you to stay."

Regina opened her mouth to speak, but Emma kept going, "Remember when I lost my leg?" Emma waited for Regina to respond.

When Regina nodded, she continued, " Tell me you wouldn't have given me your own leg if you could. And don't you dare lie to me, Regina Mills. Don't you dare make this the last selfless thing you do. You would have given me both of your legs if you could. All I have to do is give you part of my pancreas. Please," Emma's eyes were beginning to spill over now, "Please," she sobbed out as she leaned on the bed, "Don't stop me from saving you."

Emma buried her face in Regina's side and the brunette woman tilted her head back, keeping the tears trapped in her eyes. She draped a hand on Emma's head, tangling her fingers in her blonde hair.

Emma's body shook against her chest. She wanted to say no. Almost more than she wanted to stay alive, she wanted to say no. But she knew, if she died without letting Emma try and help her, there was no life for Emma after her.

Emma would never forgive herself.

"Okay," she whispered, her heart aching as the words spilled out of her mouth.

* * *

**I think we can confidently say that fluffy followed by extreme angst seems to be my style...sorry about that folks. *shuffles away quietly while an angry mob runs after with torches and pitchforks***


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: The last chapter...After some thinking, and the realization I will have no internet where I'm about to go for the weekend I've decided to add this update as well. I think the two chapters go well all together anyway so win-win!**

**If you're into listening to music while reading I suggest Breathe Me by Sia and then To Whom it May Concern by The Civil Wars. The combination has the ability to make you feel everything.**

* * *

Emma lay next to Regina in the bed, their fingers interlaced and running through each other's. They both stared up at the ceiling, watching the moonlight flicker on the concrete ceiling as they had before.

"Remember when we used to play truths under the stars?" Regina smiled as she continued to look up. Emma's lips curled up at the memory that flashed behind her eyes. She and Regina used to frequently lay outside on a blanket, spilling their guts to each other in a string of admissions.

"I remember. You would tell me the stupidest truths about yourself, but force me to reveal my deepest secrets."

"I eventually came around. "

Emma tilted her head to the side to look at the side of Regina's face. Regina remained gazing up,"Yeah, you did."

They lie in silence for a little, their hands constantly stroking each other's palms just for the touch.

"Emma?"

"Mm?"

"Sometimes I pretend you and I made Henry."

Emma allowed a chuckle to slip through her lips, "I make up reasons at school to bring you into conversations."

"I tried the grape challenge once."

Emma pushed up on her elbow, "You did not!"

"When I was home alone one time. I only got seven."

For some odd reason, it was the grape challenge that got Emma. A lump began to form in her throat. She slid back down to her laying position and looked up.

"Sometimes I feel inadequate when I can't do everything I used to be able to do with two legs."

Regina opened her mouth to protest, but remembered the one rule she and Emma had made for this game. You weren't allowed to discount a truth. You weren't allowed to tell someone it wasn't true for them.

"I hate the hair cut you let Henry get, "Regina added as her lip began to tremble, her breaking point visible on the horizon.

Apparently, in the end it all came down to haircuts and grape challenges.

Emma pressed her lips together to keep her composure, but her vision was blurring substantially from the tears in her eyes.

"I'll let you go with him next time. You just, you have to go with him okay? You have to be there. I'm awful at persuading him when it comes to his hair," Emma croaked out with a hoarse voice, knowing full well that the chances Regina would make it to his next haircut were slim.

They were silent for awhile, both pairs of eyes trained on the flickering moonlight.

"I don't want to die," Regina whispered, the tears in her eyes leaking onto the side of her face.

A sob bubbled up in Emma's throat and she pressed her lips tighter, forcing the sob to resonate only in the shaking of her chest.

"I'm afraid I won't survive if you do."

On top of the hospital bed sheet, their hands stilled from their mindless patterns and they clasped them together, squeezing on to keep them grounded.

"You have to. God knows what haircut Henry will get if he doesn't have either of us," Regina tried to chuckle, she tried to laugh. She tried her best to lift Emma's sprits, to distract her from what was happening as the blonde had done for her all those years.

Emma allowed herself to play along. She wanted so desperately for this conversation to just be about haircuts.

"He'd probably get a mohawk with the rebellious streak he's got going on. I mean masters in writing, who gave him that kind of crazy dream?" she shook out, tears stinging in her throat.

Regina's struggled to form a heartbreaking smile. She knew Emma had been Henry's biggest supporter when it came to his writing.

She'd never turned down editing a copy he handed to her. She'd never discouraged him to try something else. Since he was ten, Emma had worked with him, helped him, pushed him to achieve his dream.

"Probably his crazy mother," Regina said slowly,her eyelids suddenly very heavy sleep and Emma felt her hand going limp. Emma nuzzled up to Regina, surprised that she stayed awake this long considering the pain medications she was on.

"And I think we know I'm not the crazy one…" Regina mumbled, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"The next day Emma woke to the beeping of my Mom's monitors. Apparently, something was off enough to alert the nurses. I had been sleeping on the couch when they came running in. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. They were checking all of my mom's vitals, changing IV bags, hitting buttons.

I sprinted to the bed, wanting to stop them, wanting to make sure my mom was okay. I felt Emma wrap her arms around me from behind. I started to cry, feeling in my bones that my mother was slipping away. I knew Emma wanted to latch onto my mom and beg her to stay, more than anything I know she wanted to break down as I was. But now was her time to be strong. Now was her time to protect me, she tightened her arms around me."

* * *

"Emma, if you're positive on doing the pancreas donation. We need to get you into surgery, now." The doctor rushed out in an urgent voice. Emma nodded and buried her face in Henry's hair. Her arms still wrapped around him tightly. Her chest shook with sobs that Henry could feel against his back.

"Henry, I have-"

Henry looked at Emma and saw her eyes. He remembered his denial of his mother's plead, and he knew he had been right in doing so. A lump grew in his throat and the muscles in his face tensed to keep from bursting out, "I know."

Emma looked into his eyes, thinking now more than every how they looked like Regina's. She pulled him into one last hug that seemed to transport them into a different world, if only for a second.

"I love you."

"I love you, Mom."

"Emma, we have to go." The doctor's voice shattered their created world and Emma tore herself away from Henry, keeping her eyes on him even as she backed out of the room.

Just before the door, she mouthed, 'I'll see you after,' tears running down her face before disappearing into the hallway.

'Okay,' Henry whispered long after she was gone.

* * *

I looked into the crowd, ripping the inside of my lip with my teeth into a bloody mess from my nerves that had suddenly flared up.

"Thirteen years, four months, and three days A.E.: both my mom and Emma went into surgery."

I looked down at my feet, wishing they had run off and forced me with them earlier.

"Thirteen years, four months, and four days A.E.: my mom's body began to reject the transplant. Emma still hadn't woken up from her surgery."

I looked at the lights, cursing them for being so constant and fiery through this long speech.

"Thirteen years, four months, and five days A.E.: my mom dies," A sob ripped out of my throat unexpectedly and I try to cover it with my hands despite the fact it's already echoing into the thick air.

"Thirteen years, four months, and six days A.E. Emma dies." I let myself cry freely in front of the crowd.

"They had little explanation for why Emma's body never recovered from the surgery, but I knew," I chuckled bitterly, my eyes wet with tears, "she was mad at my mom for dying first. She'd always told her that she had to be the first one to go. She'd always said my mom was the stronger one."

I focused on my breathing, making sure a get a few good gulps of air before I continued.

"So you see, it makes all the sense in the world they went like this," I choked out my words as the tears that I had tried so hard to keep in continued to stream over. "Because they were just so stupidly in love that there was some truth that neither could live without the other." My chest felt like someone had stabbed it repeatedly.

But I hated them in that moment" I cried out, my voice raising louder than I had intended, my breathe hitching as my chest deemed necessary, "I really hated them."

My voice grew angrier. How could it not?

"Because how could they leave me? How could they just leave me here?"

I put my hands on the stand and hung my head through them, trying to breathe deeply, trying to compose myself. "I kept asking myself that question over and over in the hospital that night. How could they leave me?

It wasn't until I found my Mom's diary that I started to understand, they hadn't."

I wiped my eyes uselessly. They only stayed dry for a few seconds before re-wetting. " That night I had to grab all their stuff from their room, clean it out. It was mostly just some clothes, car keys, but among all of that, there was this leather book. This small leather book," I sniffed, the tears wreaking havoc on my sinuses, "So I opened it, not really expecting anything, but as I flipped through it I saw that my mother had written down events from every single day since she'd met Emma.

Every single day she wrote in that notebook and from the differing handwriting, I could tell Emma did too. Apparently, they had been keeping track of our lives from the beginning. I kept going through the pages and I saw my name on almost every line. I saw it in the loopy writing of my mom's handwriting, the tiny jagged writing of Emma's."

I wiped at my eyes again, almost angrily that they won't stay dry. I see Paige in the front row and her face is streaked like mine.

"They wrote everything in that book. Sometimes together, sometimes they left notes for the other to find."

I picked up the pitiful paper that I had originally brought on the stage in its rolled and crumpled state and begin to read from it.

_"May 2nd, 2002. Henry fit twenty four grapes in his mouth today. It's possibly the most pointless game I've ever played, so I can't really explain why it means so much to me, but I'm proud of him. Everything he does, I find I'm proud. The kid, he's so amazing. I don't think I'll ever stop being proud of him."_

_"October 12th 2008," I read from the paper, "Henry called Emma Mom for the first time today. She seemed surprised, and it's just like her to be. Henry and I know though, she's been his mother for awhile now."_

I wiped a tear away and my eyes flicked down to the next sequence.

_"June 10th, 2014. Henry came home today and I realized he'd turned into a man. I'm not sure why it decided to spring itself upon me in this moment, he was only watching TV, but when I looked at him I didn't see that little boy anymore. Sometimes I wonder how such a perfect thing could've come from me. He's so smart, so bright, he has so much inside of him that my only wish is that he's able to find someone who will take everything he has to give and cherish it."_

I looked up at the audience, "They'd covered the entire book with stories about me. They'd materialized our life into this book. And when I hold it, I just, I feel like they're still here."

I held my head back, looking at the ceiling, hoping they were okay. Wherever they were, I needed them to be okay. And just maybe, they were looking back down on me, too, hoping I was okay.

"When I was ten I told Emma that I would be lucky enough to just see love with my own eyes. And I did," My face as I struggled to prevent from breaking out into a string of never-ending sobs, "I saw them love each other as fiercely as any two people could, but I realized looking at that book, they gave me more than that. They gave me so much more than that, because the whole time they were loving each other, they were loving me just as fiercely. They didn't just allow me to see love, they gave me love."

I looked to the the audience where hundreds of people sat, where hundreds of people grieved for my mothers. My eyes drifted along from seat to seat, slowly making its way to the back mindlessly. I looked in the last row, where the light was dimmer, where the filled seats thinned out, and I saw them.

I saw Emma, her blonde hair wild as ever. She had her arm slung around the back of the seat next to her. My mother, sitting in that very seat, was wearing her beloved peacoat jacket, her legs undoubtedly crossed underneath it. Her head tilted to the side, resting on Emma's shoulder. They gazed at me, their lips curling up into soft smiles. I could see their eyes glistening even in the darkness.

I allowed a small smile to cross my own face. My eyes remained trained on them as I continued.

"I know I promised you the greatest love story you've ever heard. And when I started this today, I thought I was talking about them, but really, I guess I was talking about us."

Emma's hand lifted from the bottom of the seat and stroked Regina's hair. Regina looked up from Emma's shoulder and for that brief second, while they looked into each others eyes I knew I had made them proud. After Emma kissed the side of Regina's head, her lips pressing against her hair, they both looked back at me, their smiles widening.

Emma nodded slightly, encouraging me to continue, as she had my whole life, to finish what I'd started.

"At the end of the diary, on the middle of the very last page I found a note Emma had left for my mom. It was dated the day before their surgery," I reluctantly tore my gaze away from my mothers in the back row to read the paper.

_"A little boy once told me that while love is not infinite, the ability to love is. He was wrong, Regina. Because loving you has been the most endless thing I've ever known. Every second. Ever minute. Every year of our life together is filled with love so expansive it fills its own personal infinity._

_Can you do that? Have multiple infinities? If so, I want one for you, and me, and Henry, side by side, just below the stars. We'll live there forever._

_Henry will be a writer, describing the stars with his beautiful words. You'll be dressed in that marshmallow snowsuit you despised so much. And I will just be me, just the way I am now, because I don't think even if I had infinity, I would change a thing. Maybe I'd have two legs."_

I glanced up at the back of the auditorium and I realized my mothers were gone. The two seats they were occupying were devastatingly empty.

My tears spilled out as my eyes traveled back up to the front of the audience.

I saw my fiancé. I saw my grandparents. I saw Frizzy Hair and the lady next door. I saw Kathryn and my mom's coworkers. I saw teachers from Emma's school.

I looked all the way to the left of the stage. The spot I'd been avoiding the entire time. The spot I'd erased from my memory while I'd been talking. I took a few steps over and placed both hands on each of the coffins, knowing my mothers' had returned to them.

I ducked my head and allowed the salty drops of moisture to fall onto the wooden surface. 'I love you' I whispered to each of them. 'I love you,' I said again, just to make sure.

I walked back to the stage and grabbed onto the stand, adjusting the microphone as I seemed to do out of habit.

"You're all here because of them. You're here because somehow they've impacted your life.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what extraordinary means. And what I've decided is that extraordinary is a feeling, almost tangible, but not quite. Like the wind. it's something you feel right in your chest.

Every day I spent with them I felt life spilling into me. I felt it pooling and swirling right here," I motioned to my chest, "I felt what I realized was the essence of extraordinary. And after all this, even now, after they're gone I still feel it."

I could do this. I knew I could do this. It was time to say goodbye.

"So Emma, Mom" I looked over to the coffins and my vision blurred with tears for the umpteenth time, "I hope you're up there, below the stars. I hope you have two legs, Emma, and that my mom is in her marshmallow suit," bursts of air forced their way out of my lungs and my fresh tears fell, "Sorry Mom, I know infinity is a long time for her to condemn you to that outfit, but I think you secretly loved it. I think it reminded you of that perfect day as much as it does to me. Emma, I know she'll still pretend to be mad at you, but-"

I stopped and chuckled heartbreakingly, my face wet with tears, "we both know how easy you can get out of that."

My hands shook as I rested them on the stand.

"I'll be a writer soon, Emma. Just like we always wanted. I'll work really hard," I could feel the streams of hot liquid traveling down my face, "I'll make sure I'm the best writer possible so when I come up there with you guys, I'll be able to do the stars justice."

I checked their seats in the back one last time. Still empty.

"I miss you, I love you, I'll see you soon."

Even though I didn't see them, I knew they were here, because they were busy doing what they'd done their entire lives.

I felt it drifting in the air, filling each and every person here, right in their chest, right where it belongs.

It swirled and tumbled on the stage, licking the walls and rocketing down.

I took a deep breath, looked over to their coffins and smiled, feeling it dance around my heart before it exploded into the room, extraordinary.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it, I hope it made you feel. Thank you so much for reading and all the support that followed :)**

**-Purplehershey**


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